US: Nadle and Cicilline ask for more funding to antitrust enforcement

On Monday, April 1, House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler and Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline (Democrat – Rhode Island) sent a letter to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) leadership asking for particulars on how the agency would allocate funding if given more resources to beef up its antitrust enforcement.

The lawmakers pressed the agency on how it would allocate an additional US$50 million to US$100 million, as well as what other resources it might need “to promote competition in digital markets.” The panel leaders also inquired about the possibility of the agency creating a “Bureau of Technology” and what funding and staffing the agency would need to make it run. A number of consumer groups have called for the establishment of a separate agency to potentially handle issues around tech, antitrust and data privacy, but the missive shows Democratic leaders are weighing whether such a unit could be housed in the FTC itself.

“The United States is in the midst of a monopoly crisis. Mounting evidence suggests that market power has increased across the economy, economic concentration has risen, and anticompetitive conduct is undermining the economic opportunity and well-being of the working America,” the letter read.

“With these concerns in mind we would like to learn how the Commission would use additional resources to confront and reverse this trend,” it continued.