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WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (MA-03), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee, took to the House floor calling on her colleagues to support passage of the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act.

CLICK HERE or the image above to view Trahan’s remarks.

The Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act is bipartisan, bicameral legislation that requires massive corporations to pay a fee when seeking to acquire or merge with a competitor. The fee would provide resources that could be used by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to hire and deploy technologists, data scientists, and interdisciplinary experts to determine if the proposed deal would hurt consumers or small businesses. Under current law, the FTC is required to use its own budget to examine the thousands of proposed deals that are submitted each year, meaning many large acquisitions can be approved without scrutiny.

A transcript of Trahan’s remarks as delivered is embedded below.

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Congresswoman Lori Trahan

Remarks as Delivered

Full Consideration of the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act

September 29, 2022

M. Speaker, we find ourselves in a monopoly moment as a country. Multi-billion-dollar corporations have grown into behemoths – eliminating any real competition in their industries and using their dominance to hurt small businesses and consumers.

Meta’s monopoly power has enabled it to harm women, children, and people of all ages without recourse. Amazon has used its dominance to copy competitors’ products and run small businesses into the ground.

This slide has happened under the watch of Democratic and Republican governments alike. And it’s on us to stop it.

That starts with giving the FTC the resources necessary to enforce our antitrust laws. It starts with the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act.

This bipartisan, bicameral legislation is simple. It requires that a billion-dollar corporation looking to acquire or merge with a competitor pay a fee for the FTC to review the deal.  That’s it. A one-time fee to help ensure we don’t slide further back to the times of the railroad and steel monopolies that abused workers, hurt consumers, and killed competition.

Families are hurting enough right now. They deserve competition – not capitulation to corporate interests.

I urge my colleagues to support this long overdue bipartisan package, and I yield back.

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