Members of Congress Introduce Bicameral Legislation to Ban Anticompetitive Mergers, Restore Competition, and Bring Down Prices for Consumers

Sen Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep Mondaire Jones (D-NY) introduced bicameral legislation to help stomp out rampant industry consolidation that allows companies to raise consumer prices and mistreat workers. The Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act would ban the biggest, most anticompetitive mergers and give the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) the teeth to reject deals in the first instance without court orders and to break up harmful mergers. The bill would:

• Make “prohibited mergers” illegal, including:
  • Deals valued over $5 billion
  • Deals resulting in market shares above 33% for sellers or 25% for employers
  • Deals resulting in highly concentrated markets under the 1992 agency guidelines
• Overhaul the merger-review process by giving antitrust agencies stronger tools to stop the most harmful mergers, such as: 
  • Allowing the agencies to reject mergers in the first instance without court orders
  • Requiring the agencies to reject certain mergers, including prohibited mergers
  • Prohibiting firms with a history of corporate crime or antitrust violations in the last ten years from acquiring other companies
  • Prohibiting the agencies from negotiating remedies with the merging parties 
  • Directing the agencies to scrutinize the labor impacts of each deal and reject mergers harmful to workers
  • Prohibiting private-equity “roll up” strategies that quickly consolidate industries
  • Giving a greater role to other relevant agencies and state attorneys general
  • Requiring courts to defer to certain agency determinations
  • Stripping merger litigation from the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court
• Establish procedures for the antitrust agencies to conduct retrospective reviews and break up harmful deals that have destroyed competition 

The legislation is cosponsored in the Senate by Sens Cory Booker (D-NJ), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Tammy Baldwin (D-MN), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Edward J Markey (D-MA). 

The legislation is cosponsored in the House Reps Cori Bush (D-MO), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Katie Porter (D-CA), Jesús “Chuy” García (D-IL), Andy Levin (D-MI), Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Mark Takano (D-CA), and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC).