U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, and Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released the statement below urging the House of Representatives to pass - H.R. 3843, the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act.
"The Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act is the product of years of bipartisan work in both the House and Senate to improve the enforcement of our antitrust laws and protect competition and consumers. This package of bills will update merger filing fees and help ensure that the federal antitrust agencies can be properly funded, that information on foreign subsidies is made available to federal enforcers, and that state antitrust enforcement can proceed more efficiently and without needless delays. We call on all House Members to support this important bipartisan legislation."
The Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act includes the House companion to Klobuchar's merger filing fees reform bill with Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Senator Durbin to help ensure antitrust enforcers have sufficient resources to protect consumers by updating merger filing fees and lowering the burden on small and medium-sized businesses. It also includes the State Antitrust Enforcement Venue Act, Klobuchar's legislation with Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) to empower state antitrust enforcement by allowing state attorneys general litigating antitrust cases to remain in their selected courts. H.R. 3843 has been endorsed by a coalition of State Attorney Generals.