MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL, ONE ANTITRUST AGENCY TO RULE THEM ALL? — As promised in a WSJ op-ed this week, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) introduced legislation on Thursday to take away the FTC’s authority over antitrust and give it to the Justice Department. The proposal by Lee, who heads the Senate Judiciary antitrust panel, is similar to one that Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) floated earlier this year.
— Tech trade group NetChoice, which recently compared antitrust enforcement against Google or Facebook to a “guillotine for the American Dream,” was (perhaps unsurprisingly) thrilled with Lee’s bill. But the legislation is probably dead on arrival in the House, where Democrats and some Republicans have said they support greater funding so the FTC can better enforce antitrust laws.