Colorado Politics

Buck, Cicilline launch bipartisan antitrust caucus aimed at holding massive tech firms to account

The Colorado Republican and Rhode Island Democrat who led legislation in the last Congress aimed at reining in what they characterize as anticompetitive behavior by the largest tech companies are vowing to keep the effort going with a new, bipartisan caucus of like-minded legislators.

U.S. Reps. Ken Buck and David Cicilline, the senior Republican and chairman, respectively, on the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee from 2021-2022, announced last week that they’re forming the Congressional Antitrust Caucus to promote competition by holding big tech companies to account.

The two remain on the subcommittee but lost their previous leadership positions after the GOP took the majority in the House and bypassed Buck to install the more libertarian-minded U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, as the panel’s chairman, bumping Cicilline to its ranking member.

“The Congressional Antitrust Caucus will give members of Congress who care about holding monopolies accountable and encouraging competition in the Big Tech marketplace an opportunity to bring competition policy to the Congress and to the minds of the American people,” Buck said in a statement.

“This is a critically important policy area and one where thoughtful, bipartisan work can deliver results. By creating this caucus, we are showing the American people that we are in Washington to deliver results and that both sides of the aisle can come together to fight against these dangerous monopolistic corporations.”

Last month, Buck released a book that recounts his arguments for battling tech giants he says monopolize their markets, including Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google.

Said Cicilline: “As our bipartisan work in the 116th and 117th Congresses has shown, Big Tech’s anticompetitive, monopolistic behavior is stifling innovation, hurting consumers, and killing small businesses. We know how to fix this, and are committed to seeing this work through.”

The subcommittee produced a group of ambitious, bipartisan bills on the topic last year, but only a portion of the sweeping package passed the full Congress and were signed into law.

In a joint release announcing the new caucus, Buck and Cicilline said the group plans to hear testimony from “American innovators who have been harmed by Big Tech’s predatory and anti-competitive practices.” Additionally, they said they’ll push legislation that targets monopolistic behavior in the tech industry, citing a bill that would require competition and transparency in digital advertising.

U.S. Reps. David Cicilline, a Rhode Island Democrat, and Ken Buck, a Colorado Republican
(AP file photos)
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