Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022
Floor Speech
Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues to vote ``no.'' While parts of this bill have some support, the package before us today does nothing but empower the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission.
Why would we support more funding for unaccountable officials in the Biden administration, particularly these two agencies, the Department of Justice, in light of what we have seen from them over the past several months?
Time and time again, they have weaponized that agency to go after the American people.
Now, some are asserting that oh, no, this wouldn't give more money to the bureaucracy. But this is the kind of Washington budget gimmick that the swamp uses to grow government all the time.
In the majority's own committee report on the bill they acknowledge ``the updated fee structure would provide the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission with additional resources to review mergers and enforce the antitrust laws; more money for Merrick Garland and the DOJ to harass the American people.
Even proponents of the bill are talking about how this would get resources to the agencies while saying it doesn't include an appropriation. This logic is laughable.
We know where this money is going. In fact, the chairman of the committee said in his opening remarks that the DOJ and FTC are ``in desperate need of more resources.'' We know where this money is going, $280 million, $140 million to each agency, every single year.
Congress has already appropriated money to hire 87,000 new IRS agents, and now we are going to give hundreds of millions of dollars to the DOJ and the FTC. Such a deal for the taxpayer. Where does it stop?
If you want to do something about Big Tech, this bill is not the vehicle. A bill that empowers these two agencies to, I think, collude with Big Tech to come after conservatives is not the way to go. I hope we can vote this down.
Mr. Speaker, as I said before, I urge a ``no'' vote, and I reserve the balance of my time.
I will respond to the gentlewoman from California. I appreciate the fact that she is a ``no'' on this bill, but I think her logic is all wrong. This bill would actually give $140 million to the DOJ so they can continue to do what they are already doing, work with Big Tech to censor certain information from getting to we the people.
Why do I say that? Because we know it happened. Just a month ago, Mark Zuckerberg said the FBI came and told him not to allow the story about Hunter Biden's laptop to be on their platform. They gave him the old wink-wink, oh, we think this is Russian disinformation, which we know it wasn't. Now, we are going to give that agency $140 million more to go collude with Big Tech to keep we the people from getting valuable information before the most important election that we have, the election of the Commander in Chief of our country?
That is why this thing is so scary and why we should be against it.
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Mr. JORDAN. He used the term ``overcooked theory.'' Let me tell you what is not theory.
The Department of Justice's raid on a former President's home. Not theory.
The Department of Justice taking the phone of a sitting Member of this body. Not theory.
Fourteen whistleblowers coming to our office talking about the political nature of the Justice Department. Not theory.
Those are facts. That is scary stuff.
Now this bill, if passed, will give that agency $140 million each year for the next 5 years.
That is what we want to do? For that reason alone, we should be against this legislation.
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Mr. JORDAN. Mr. Speaker, I would just point out that I find it interesting. First, we had Mr. Cicilline, the chair of the subcommittee say that DOJ and FTC don't get the money. It has to be appropriated next year. But then the chairman of the full committee, Mr. Nadler, said we know how the money is going to be spent. It is going to be spent on antitrust enforcement. It can't be both.
So it can't be both. We know what is going to happen. This money is going to wind up in DOJ and FTC, and we know their track record in how they have been treating the American citizen.
But I find it interesting that the Democrats can't even get their argument straight which just reinforces why this bill should not pass, because in the end it is more money for the Department of Justice--the same Department of Justice that has done their egregious actions over the last several months.
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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, concentrated political power: that is what the Department of Justice is doing right now. They are weaponizing the Department of Justice against the American people.
The most concentrated political power--awesome power--you can have is the Federal Government. And I would argue the agency within the Federal Government that is the most dangerous is the Department of Justice, and we are going to give them $140 million more over the next 5 years.
It is amazing. Again, Mr. Cicilline can say what he wants, Madam Speaker, but that is not consistent with what the chairman said. The chairman said that this is going to give more resources to antitrust enforcement.
Here is what the Democrats' own committee report says: ``The upgraded fee structure would provide the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission with additional resources.''
So either Mr. Cicilline is completely wrong, or the majority report is wrong, or the chairman is wrong. Somebody is wrong.
We know what is going to happen. This is the same old game we hear all the time: Oh, it is not really appropriated, but we are charging more money.
It will result in more money coming to the concentrated political power at the Justice Department, but it is really not going to go there.
Give me break. We know where it is going. They have even said it in their own darn committee report.
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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I just point out that I didn't say that Congress shouldn't appropriate dollars to Federal agencies. What I said is that we shouldn't give more money to the Department of Justice in light of what we have seen them do and in light of what 14 whistleblowers have told us over the last several months what they are up to. That is a completely different point.
I am all for looking for ways to cut certain agencies and reduce Government and the power that they have, but I didn't say that. I just said that we shouldn't be giving them more money, for goodness' sake, in light of what they have been doing. I think that is a pretty reasonable position, and, frankly, I think it is the position the vast majority of the country would have when they look at the actions they have seen from their Department of Justice and the tax money that supports that agency.
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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I would just add I have talked a lot about my concerns with the DOJ in light of what we have seen from that agency, and I think that is the main reason why this bill is so wrong and it should not be supported.
But the FTC is also engaged in all kinds of things that I just think are interesting.
One commissioner said that she supports prioritizing FTC investigations related to ``systemic racism and rulemaking for racist practices.'' A senior FTC adviser who called Kay James, the former head of the Heritage Foundation, she called her a bigot and criticized viewpoint diversity. She is the one who developed FTC policy on AI and discrimination.
Republican Commissioner Wilson described Democrat goals as ``rooted in unified world view that draws heavily on Marxism.''
This is an agency controlled by people who have a radical belief system, radical opinions, and radical political views. Again, not only is the Department of Justice getting $140 million more a year, so is the FTC which is run by people with those kinds of positions.
So, again, I think we don't want to be giving more money to agencies with this kind of track record, particularly, I think, now when the American people are about to speak on whom they want to control their Congress. That is why I think we should vote ``no'' on this legislation, hopefully it goes down, and do the oversight that needs to be done of these two agencies so we can point out the facts and the truth and get that to the American people.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. JORDAN. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
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