Rep. Ellison Introduces Merger Retrospective Act

Reps Keith Ellison (D-MN), David Cicilline (D-RI), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Rick Nolan (D-MN), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) introduced the Merger Retrospective Act to curb the harmful effects of corporate monopolization on working people. Rep Ellison’s bill attempts to illuminate the impact of corporate mergers on the American economy by directing the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) to assess each merger’s effect on price, quality, and availability of products and services at the merged firm, as well as employment reduction and worker compensation.

“When big companies merge, workers can be laid off in the thousands, prices can go up, and quality can go down for goods and services at the new firm. Decades of lax merger review and antitrust enforcement have helped bring us to a new Gilded Age, where inequality is higher than ever, and a handful of massive corporations control outsized wealth and political power at the expense of the rest of us.  This legislation is aimed at reversing a decades-long trend toward concentrating power in our economy.” said Rep Ellison.