U.S. Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced legislation that seeks to reform the nation’s antitrust laws.
Their bill, the Tougher Enforcement Against Monopolies, or TEAM Act, would consolidate antitrust enforcement agencies into one agency and seek to strengthen antitrust laws.
“America is facing a panoply of competition concerns not just in Big Tech, but across our entire economy,” Lee said. “We need a holistic approach that deals with all of these concerns, and that benefits all consumers, in every industry – without massively increasing regulation and imposing a command-and-control grip over the economy. The TEAM Act strikes the right balance in protecting competition and consumer welfare while limiting government intervention in our free market economy.”
The TEAM Act would strengthen antitrust laws by employing a market share-based merger presumption, improving the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, codifying the consumer welfare standard, and making it harder for monopolists to justify or excuse anti-competitive conduct.
The bill also includes a version of the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act, introduced by Sens. Klobuchar and Grassley. Further, it roughly doubles the amount of money appropriated to federal antitrust enforcement. Also, it repeals Illinois Brick and Hanover Shoe to ensure that consumers can recover damages from anticompetitive conduct. Finally, it would allow the Justice Department to recover trebled damages on behalf of consumers and impose civil fines for knowingly violating the antitrust laws.
“Anticompetitive and monopolistic business practices hurt innovation and consumers. This bill streamlines and strengthens antitrust enforcement and holds bad actors accountable for their anticompetitive actions while preserving a free market,” Grassley said.