Competition Corner

On Friday, December 23, 2022, the House of Representatives passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (the “Act”) after the Senate had passed the Act on Thursday with bipartisan support. President Biden is expected to sign the Act shortly, averting a potential government shutdown. 

Congress is currently considering the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICO), which will enhance the antitrust regulations of certain online platforms. If enacted, AICO would prohibit certain covered online platforms from favoring their own products or services when doing so “would materially harm competition.” Winston has created an antitrust legislative tracker to monitor the progress of federal and certain state bills pending in the current legislative session. 

On June 14, 2022, the Senate passed a bill designed to give greater enforcement power to state attorneys general who bring suit under federal antitrust law. The State Antitrust Enforcement Venue Act passed the Senate by unanimous consent and now heads to a vote in the House, where it has already cleared committee. If passed, it will mark the first successful step in a broader bipartisan effort by lawmakers to introduce antitrust reform legislation aimed at regulating large technology companies.

On May 5, 2022, the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Senate Bill 977, titled No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act (NOPEC), legislation that targets OPEC and other oil cartels that up until now have evaded antitrust enforcement.

On July 9, 2021, President Biden signed a comprehensive Executive Order aimed at promoting economic competition across the U.S. economy including through enhanced enforcement of antitrust laws.

The “State Antitrust Enforcement Venue Act of 2021,” a bill designed to bolster states’ ability to enforce federal antitrust laws, has recently been introduced in both houses of Congress. 

On May 19, 2021, the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights convened a hearing to discuss hospital consolidation.

On April 29, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law met to discuss consolidation in health care markets.

On April 21, 2021, the Senate Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights held a hearing to explore competition in Apple’s App Store and Google Play. Representatives from Apple Inc., Google Inc., Spotify, the Consumer Federation of America, Tile, Inc., and Match Group, Inc. testified about competition within the two app stores.

Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri introduced a bill on April 12 designed to “crack down on mergers and acquisitions by mega-corporations” and make it easier to break up dominant firms through antitrust enforcement.