Klobuchar, Grassley Say They Have Votes to Pass Antitrust Bill

The Senate has the 60 votes needed to pass legislation that would ban Big Tech platforms from self-preferencing products (see 2206070059), Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Chair Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told us Tuesday. They’re waiting for word from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., about floor time.

The Judiciary Committee passed the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (S-2992) in January. Senators and House Judiciary Committee members have pushed for floor time for multiple tech-related antitrust bills (see 2207190043). “These are things that could get 60 votes in the United States Senate easily, and the Democrats need wins,” Grassley told us. “And this would be a win for them.” He noted: “All I got is statements from Klobuchar, [Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.], Democrats who have been talking to Schumer, that he wanted to bring them up. That’s all I have to go by. I can’t give you any other information.” Schumer’s office didn’t comment.

“I feel very strongly that we have a great coalition and we have the votes,” said Klobuchar. “But we need to get the vote. ... [Schumer] understands that. He supports the bill so we’re just waiting for the vote.” She shot back at industry arguments that the legislation could result in elimination of Amazon Prime, saying sponsors have done a good job with C-SPAN and floor speeches fighting back against about $100 million in Big Tech ads against the legislation.

It would be a “big mistake” for the Senate to move forward with antitrust proposals from Klobuchar and House Judiciary Committee members, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., told an American Consumer Institute event on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. Monopolies are almost always enabled by government intervention, said Paul: “I wouldn’t do any antitrust, but if you’re going to do antitrust, it makes no sense that the consumer wouldn’t be the person to look at.” The current regulatory approach focuses on protecting competitors, not consumers, he said. The left thinks Big Tech isn’t censoring enough, and the right thinks Big Tech is censoring “too much,” and the result is faulty legislation, he said.

It was a “bipartisan vote” out of Judiciary, Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told us Tuesday. He said in the past that he supports bringing the legislation to the floor. The U.S. “can’t be the last country in the world” to pass competition legislation, said Klobuchar.

It’s a “cookie cutter” approach to antitrust law that targets specific companies because of their size, said Progressive Policy Institute Technology Policy Analyst Malena Dailey at ACI Tuesday’s event. “That’s a dangerous way to do things.” Aurelien Portuese, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation policy director-Schumpeter Project on Competition, said these bills “completely” ignore the welfare of consumers and are designed to protect “less efficient competitors.” Americans are more concerned with inflation, the economy and jobs than supposed Big Tech dominance, said James Czerniawski, Americans for Prosperity senior policy analyst-technology and innovation.

Privacy advocates are looking forward to Wednesday’s Senate Commerce Committee markup of two pieces of children’s privacy legislation (see 2207210056). Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Ed Markey, D-Mass., addressed questions Tuesday about the possibility of combining the bills into a package. “They’re complementary,” said Blumenthal. “I don’t know whether" the Kids Online Safety Act can be combined with Markey’s Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, but "they have been designed to work together and complement each other. ... I think it could advance on its own, possibly alone with" Markey's bill. “But protecting kids online is worthy of separate approval.” Markey said he’s “open to alternatives in terms of the ultimate vehicle, as long as that vehicle passes. That’s my bottom line.” He said he’s been working in “tandem” with Blumenthal, and “it does work as a complete package.”