Cicilline Remains Hopeful for Antitrust Bill Floor Time in 2021

House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I., remains hopeful House leadership will allow floor time for the Judiciary Committee’s antitrust legislation before the end of the year, he told us last week. A Democratic aide said Monday that caucus negotiations are ongoing.

“I know floor time is limited between now and the end of the year, but these are strong pieces of legislation that now have Senate counterparts, and they have bipartisan support, so the hope is we’ll get floor time before the end of the year,” Cicilline said. He's “anxious” to finish work on the Build Back Better Act (see 2111190042) and focus “our chances” on the antitrust agenda.

“The Judiciary Committee continues to work hard at building consensus in the Caucus around this legislative package,” a senior Democratic aide said in a statement. Offices for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., didn’t comment. Cicilline and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said in September that legislators were still working to get the bills ready for the floor (see 2109280067).

Passing the reconciliation bill “hopefully will free up some things other than these damn suspension votes,” Antitrust ranking member Ken Buck, R-Colo., told us Thursday. “I don’t run the Democratic Party, and Pelosi doesn’t talk to me. If she did, I would have different priorities.” He said other committees are frustrated that bills aren’t getting to the floor.

While there’s bipartisan support for the Judiciary package, some progressives and conservatives remain opposed. The legislation “didn’t seem fully baked when it was moved out of committee,” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., told us. “There were problems with them. I think they know that. I think at some point they just wanted to get them out of committee. They’re not ready for prime time.”

The legislation deserved a more “complete vetting” and legislative hearings before it was marked up (see 2106240071), said Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash. “I haven’t had a meeting [with sponsors] to go into some more detail. ... I think that will be another point of discussion on technology policy in general.” The New Democrat Coalition, which DelBene chairs, in July called the markup a “missed opportunity” (see 2107060072). “I’d love to see us focus on the broad set of issues that are really important,” she said. “Privacy is a really foundational, key piece of that.”

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told us he has had discussions with Antitrust Subcommittee Chair Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., about advancing bipartisan legislation in the chamber. “I’m talking to Sen. Klobuchar about it now, and we’re going to discuss the timing,” he said.

Klobuchar recently announced a companion bill from the House package with Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, (see 2110140068) and another with Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., (see 2111050044). One lawmaker involved in discussions said Klobuchar is exploring legislative possibilities with Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. “Yes, there are” more bipartisan House bills with potential in the Senate, Klobuchar told us last week. Hawley's and Klobuchar's offices didn’t comment about potential negotiations.

Klobuchar said senators are exploring the House's Ending Platform Monopolies Act. HR-3825 would eliminate “the ability of dominant platforms to leverage their control across multiple business lines to self-preference and disadvantage competitors in ways that undermine free and fair competition.” That bill is sponsored by Reps. Buck; Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash.; Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C.; and Lance Gooden, R-Texas.