The White House Is Pushing Congress To Rein In Big Tech Before The GOP Takes Over The House

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks during a press conference at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on September 28, 2022. Photo by Mary F. Calvert - Reuters

Just weeks before the passage of two high-profile antitrust laws targeting Big Tech, the White House is privately lobbying the offices of Democratic congressional leaders to pass a legislative package during the lame duck session, according to people familiar with the matter. .

In private meetings with staff members of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, several sources report that White House officials are preparing for the adoption of the American Innovation and Online Choice (AICO) and the Open Market Applications Act (OAMA) prioritized before the Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in January. Officials also said they believed the bills would need more than 60 votes to pass the Senate, as the Biden administration held a series of meetings with Senate and House leaders to organize a campaign to pass the Drawet in the office of President Joe Biden. said the sources.

The two main sponsors of the AICO bill, Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, have said for months that she has the votes she needs to enter the Senate. Grassley insisted more than 20 Republicans were willing to vote for him. The sole supporter of the bill was Schumer, who controls the entire Senate and suggested there might not be a vote. "Sep. Schumer is working with Senator Klobuchar and other supporters to gather the necessary votes and plans to get him on the ballot," a Schumer spokesman said over the summer.

But the New York Democrat has yet to commit to a floor vote, making antitrust advocates suspicious that he claims to support the bill by playing Big Tech's delay strategy. Schumer's office and the White House did not respond to TIME's requests for comment Friday.

"We are very committed to moving forward with ambitious technology antitrust legislation, and we will increase our commitment during the lull on the president's agenda in all areas, including antitrust," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters later. Friday afternoon "These antitrust laws are bipartisan and there's no reason Congress can't act before the end of the year."

The sense of urgency in the antitrust movement stems from the fact that Republicans won a narrow majority in the House of Representatives in the midterm elections and that two of the bill's most vocal opponents on Capitol Hill are poised to take office where they intend is to scale. back when that happens. . nominated for the next congress. On Tuesday, the GOP House Caucus nominated Kevin McCarthy of California as the next speaker, while Jim Jordan of Ohio is likely to become the next chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

"Because the Republicans control the House of Representatives, it's going to be much more difficult to make progress on this issue," said Rep. David Chihillin, a Rhode Island Democrat and chairman of the House Antitrust Subcommittee, told TIME. “Kevin McCarthy and the Republican leadership fought us at every turn. This is a classic example of the corrupting influence of money in our political system. (Both McCarthy and Jordan have benefited over the years from donations from companies like Google, Facebook and other Silicon Valley powerhouses.)

AICO legislation prohibits companies such as Amazon and Google from prioritizing their products on their platforms over their competitors. The Open Markets for Apps Act would force Apple and Google to open their app stores to competing markets.

Antitrust advocates say the bills are essential because the platforms' monopoly power has created an environment where success means failure for small businesses and innovators — a competitive disadvantage because Amazon can determine its product sells well and then build its own version. the case. . Case. The Seattle company can then place its product on the first page of its search engine, with another company's product ranking much lower down. This dynamic causes small businesses to complain that every disruptive product is "first to market and first to die," says Eric Migikowski, co-founder of Beeper.

The Biden administration and lawmakers must pass antitrust legislation aimed at curbing Big Tech's power by the end of the year. Sources say they have agreed to push the measure back to the summer, the deadline originally set by the bill's supporters for passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, a $433 billion health care, climate and tax bill which will include one that was key for Democrats. medium term priorities. But now that the elections are over, they are redoubling their efforts to act before it is too late.

This week, the White House and members of Congress held a series of meetings with executives from "small tech companies" who defend the bill and struggle to compete with the tech giants that have taken control of their respective markets.

Thursday, Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman; Harry Tan, venture capitalist and future CEO of Y Combinator; Angela Hoover, CEO of Andi, a search engine alternative to Google; and Migikowski of Beeper all met with White House officials and various offices of the Legislature. They noted a discrepancy between the White House vote tally and Schumer's. "The White House told us the bills had 60 votes," Stoppelman told TIME. “And then, that same day, we were in Schumer's office and they said, 'We support the bill and we hope to get votes.

Schumer has been the subject of numerous protests in recent months over his delay in passing the law. Progressive advocacy group Fight for the Future played a John Oliver segment in support of the bill on a large video screen outside Brooklyn Schumer during the summer. And a group of antitrust protesters bombarded his office with Jeff Bezos masks on Halloween.

The two key technology antitrust bills have passed the House and Senate Judiciary Committees with bipartisan majorities, but have been delayed for months to get votes in each house of Congress. Sources familiar with the process told TIME that Pelosi is waiting for Schumer to extradite her from the Senate before subjecting her members, especially those in California, to a tough vote.

This has been a source of frustration for supporters of the bill on both sides of the aisle. Why are they not addressing this issue in the House of Representatives? Rep. Ken Buck, a Colorado Republican and lead sponsor of the House version, told TIME in September. “Maybe they belong to Big Tech. I have no idea. You point your finger. This is ridiculous. They make the laws when they want. Pelosi had very loud voices for her members." Pelosi's office did not respond to a request for comment.

The White House has repeatedly signaled in meetings that it agrees in principle with the proposed legislation and sees the need to make the technology industry more dynamic to compete with China, a source familiar with the matter told TIME. The National Security Council is becoming a stronger voice in policy efforts, advancing the argument that a country's foreign policy is better served by a more competitive technology ecosystem.

"We met her. We will see each other again," said Cicilline, the author of the House version, with a view of the White House. "We know we have votes in the Senate and House of Representatives. It is a matter of time. That has always been the president's priority. He is very supportive of our cartel program.

Biden has made strengthening the US antitrust regime a key part of his economic agenda. He appointed some of the nation's leading antitrust scholars and big-tech opponents to key positions in his administration, including Lina Hahn as chairman of the FTC, Jonathan Kanter as head of the Justice Department's antitrust division, and Tim Wu on the Council National Economic. And in July 2021, he issued a far-reaching executive order urging the entire government to work to suppress established markets and increase competition.

But even as antitrust nerds are tasked with running the nation's top antitrust authorities, supporters of the legislation insist changes to the statutes are needed to prevent big tech companies from abusing their power.

And if lawmakers don't do it now, it's unclear when it will get another chance. "This is really our last chance," says Cicilline.

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