Jeanne Shaheen, Monopoly Queen?

The must-pass spending bill cuts antitrust enforcement for no apparent reason.

Antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter.

Under President Joe Biden, antitrust is making a comeback, both at the Federal Trade Commission and at the Justice department’s antitrust division. But the must-pass stopgap spending bill to prevent a government shutdown cuts the antitrust division’s budget by 20 percent.

Senate Democrats Jeanne Shaheen and Patty Murray say they made the cut to head off a steeper one proposed by House Republicans. One virtue of the Republican proposal, though, was that it actually saved taxpayers money. The Democratic counteroffer, which was included in the final bill, does not, for complicated reasons having to do with the antitrust division’s unusual funding mechanism. The Democratic proposal impedes antitrust activity without actually lowering the deficit. You’d almost wonder whether the purpose was to encourage corporate concentration. Or it may reflect a stupid turf war between the appropriations committees and the judiciary committees. Whatever the reason, it’s bad policy. That’s the topic of my latest New Republic piece. You can read it here.