Republican leadership has sided with industry in opposing bipartisan anti-Big Tech antitrust bills gaining momentum in the House, highlighting a split among conservatives regarding Silicon Valley.
The legislative package, which passed the House Judiciary Committee in June, includes six sweeping antitrust bills aimed at reining in tech companies such as Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook. It marks Washington’s most significant and serious attempt yet to reshape the technology industry.
The legislation has strong support from liberal Democrats skeptical of big business and from conservative Republicans who see Big Tech as a threat to free speech, especially House antitrust subcommittee ranking member Ken Buck of Colorado.
But, in addition to strong opposition from centrist Democrats, it faces the disapproval of many Republicans, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California and Judiciary Committee ranking member Jim Jordan of Ohio, who oppose the bills on the grounds that it represents government overreach.
“The vast majority of House Republicans oppose the far-left Pelosi-Jayapal-Cicilline legislation because it would empower liberal, unaccountable bureaucrats, punish innovation, and do nothing to address the censorship against conservatives,” said a senior House GOP aide aligned with Republican leadership, referring to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Congressional Progressive Caucus Chairwoman Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, and Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island, the chairman of the antitrust subcommittee.
Another senior House Republican aide opposed to the measures said that only 10-20 of the House GOP’s 210-member caucus support the bipartisan antitrust bills.
Pelosi is expected to meet shortly with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland and Cicilline to discuss which of the bills could move forward, a House Democratic leadership aide told the Washington Examiner.
The meeting is expected to be focused on which bills are most likely to have the widest support in both parties before votes can be whipped to support their passage on the House floor, the aide said.
Three of the House bipartisan bills also have Senate counterparts, which have also advanced out of committee on a bipartisan basis.
The three bills that are expected to be pushed by Pelosi and the Democrats are focused on giving state attorneys general greater control over where antitrust litigation is conducted, stopping platforms from unfairly giving preference to their own products and services, and forcing Apple and Google to open up their app stores to competitors.
Many prominent Republicans have aggressively promoted the antitrust legislation, including Buck, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, Rep. Burgess Owens of Utah, and Rep. Chip Roy of Texas.
House Democrats who support the antitrust legislation claim a significant number of Republican supporters.
“Ken Buck is the unsung hero for these antitrust bills. He’s successfully whipped so many votes for them, which shows how fragile Republican leadership is on this issue,” a senior Democratic aide familiar with the bills told the Washington Examiner.
“The Republican leadership lost credibility on this issue when our bills passed the House Judiciary Committee, and their assessment that only 10-20 of their members support the bills is also wrong,” the aide said.
ANTI-BIG TECH ANTITRUST PUSH EXPECTED UNDER BIDEN
Democrats expect to bring at least three of the antitrust bills to the House floor in the next few months, thanks in large part to the bipartisan support their counterparts have received in the Senate recently, the senior Democratic aide said.
Buck, the top Republican supporting the bills, is confident the legislation will pass on the House floor with GOP support.
“These bills are ready for floor consideration, and I’m looking forward to working across the aisle to get them to the president’s desk. It’s time for action on Big Tech, not strongly worded letters or hearings,” Buck told the Washington Examiner.
The tech industry, which has been fiercely critical of the antitrust bills, is playing down the chances of the legislation becoming law.
“Democrats typically don’t have votes on issues where they’re divided. I think Pelosi is just being polite when she pushes these bills. It’s not realistic that they will get a vote or pass,” said Adam Kovacevich, the CEO of Chamber of Progress, a liberal advocacy group backed by Amazon, Facebook, and Google.
Democrats from California, home to Silicon Valley and many of the tech companies, are particularly opposed to many of the antitrust bills due to potential harms to innovation and consumer choice.
California Democratic Reps. Eric Swalwell, Zoe Lofgren, and Karen Bass have repeatedly said many of their constituents would be negatively affected by the legislation.
“There’s no reason to believe the division on these bills among Democrats has changed. There have been no changes to the bills to appease moderate Democrats, which means the talk of party unity to pass these bills is fluff right now,” said Kovacevich.
Conservative tech industry insiders also cast doubt on the ability to garner Republican support for the antitrust bills.
“There’s been barely any new Republican support for the bills in the last few months. No one is talking about it, and the silence speaks volumes about the lack of interest in moving the legislation forward,” said Carl Szabo, a vice president and general counsel at NetChoice, an advocacy group that represents companies, including Amazon and Google, that oppose government regulation of online platforms.
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“Ranking member Buck’s support of this legislation is based on his frustrations with a couple of businesses, which is blinding him from the progressive problems that this bill unleashes on American businesses,” said Szabo.
