TPA Urges Strong Oversight of DOJ’s Antitrust Policy Ahead of Congressional Subcommittee Hearing

For Immediate Release

Contact: Kara Zupkus, 224-456-0257

Ahead of Tuesday’s House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust hearing titled “Oversight of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division,” TPA commended the subcommittee for providing much needed oversight of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) antitrust policy.

Taxpayers Protection Alliance’s Executive Director, Patrick Hedger, offered the following comments:

“Working in tandem with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the DOJ this year issued revised guidelines the agencies will use in evaluating potential antitrust cases. The revised guidelines fly in the face of established antitrust precedent, which focuses on consumer welfare. The new guidelines signal these agencies will pursue cases to achieve policy objectives outside of consumer protection.

Supporters of these new guidelines, including sitting FTC commissioners, have indicated that the threat of antitrust action will now be used to achieve subjective and ambiguous policy preferences, such as ‘social justice,’ not unlike those at the core of the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) movement. Essentially, DOJ and FTC want to use antitrust as another tool of administrative fiat to circumnavigate Congress and bully companies into advancing progressive political and policy ends.

DOJ and FTC are the leading consumer protection agencies in the country. They serve a distinct and valuable purpose. The latest legal adventurism at these agencies is wasting taxpayer time and resources, chasing novel legal theories beyond the mandate of Congress. These agencies are ripe to be reined in and refocused on basic consumer protection,” Hedger concluded.