A PYMNTS Company

US State AGs Ask Congress For Funding For Antitrust Work

By  |  May 10, 2021

Dozens of state attorneys general wrote to US lawmakers on Monday, May 10, to urge Congress to fund their antitrust probes, which have resulted in big lawsuits filed against Google and Facebook, reported Reuters.

Attorneys general from 45 states and territories cited calls from Republicans and Democrats for a “more robust antitrust enforcement across a multitude of markets.” The officials did not say in the letter how much they needed.

“An appropriation of federal funding for state antitrust enforcement, particularly with respect to Big Tech litigation, will inure to the benefit of the economy and consumers throughout the United States,” they wrote in a letter to Senators Amy Klobuchar and Mike Lee, the chair and top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel.

The letter was also addressed to Representatives David Cicilline and Ken Buck, their counterparts in the House of Representatives.

Six of the signatories were among the leaders of antitrust probes of the Big Tech companies: Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, Iowa’s Tom Miller, Douglas Peterson of Nebraska, New York’s Letitia James, Ken Paxton of Texas, and Utah’s Sean Reyes.