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Floor Speech
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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Thank you, Senator Shaheen. I am pleased to be here with my colleague from New Hampshire.
Mr. President, as I said when I came to the floor earlier this week, I appreciate the tough negotiations that my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee, including Senator Shaheen with her very important subcommittee, had to go through in crafting this bill. There are many good things in it; and, crucially, it keeps the Federal Government open and working for the American people.
However, as I noted last week, the technical language released by the Appropriations Committee on Sunday restricts the Antitrust Division from using funds generated from merger filing fees that exceed the appropriated amount collected in fiscal year 2024 to enforce our competition laws without a separate act of Congress.
So the reason this has become a major deal for many of us that are simply interested in allowing the Department of Justice to do its work on some very important cases, which are well-publicized that are pending now, is that it conflicts with the intent of Senator Grassley's and my bill that passed last Congress by an 88-to-8 vote. This law provides enforcers with the resources necessary to take on the anticompetitive practices by the biggest companies the world has ever known, an acknowledgment that the world has changed.
Prior to Sunday, appropriators had, for decades, allowed the Antitrust Division to retain and use all merger filing fees it collected without limit. This makes sense. If the fees collected are high, that means the mergers are rampant; and if mergers are rampant, the Antitrust Division needs additional funding to review and challenge anticompetitive mergers when they are anticompetitive, while simultaneously maintaining its non-fee-generating work of prosecuting price-fixing conspiracies and opposing monopolistic behavior.
Unfortunately, the language in the current appropriations bill could divert fees away from the Antitrust Division in fiscal year 2024 if those fees exceeded $233 million, potentially eroding the intent of the bill that Senator Grassley and I passed, along with Senator Lee, with overwhelming bipartisan support a little over a year ago.
Yesterday, Senator Grassley and I, along with a bipartisan group that led the bill in the House, made clear that the bill's unambiguous intent was to allow the Antitrust Division to retain and use all fees generated from the new fee structure.
Just to clarify with my friend from the great State of New Hampshire, I ask her if she shares the understanding that it is the intent of the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act to provide additional resources to the Antitrust Division by increasing merger filing fees.
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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Well, thank you, Senator Shaheen.
I also understand that this year's appropriations bill, as I noted, was a product of negotiations in especially difficult circumstances. Given this situation, I thank you and Senator Murray for successfully fighting to secure an increase in funds compared to last year for the Antitrust Division.
But as we have noted, this year's compromise would restrict the Antitrust Division's access to merger filing fees in years when those filing fees exceed the appropriated amount should not and cannot set a precedent for future appropriations bills. This language is limited to this bill and this bill only. Moving forward, we must include language that allows the Antitrust Division to retain and use the additional fees it collects under our bill--the bill that was passed with 88 votes in this Chamber, signed into law by the President, and, of course, passed by the House, and was consistent with decades of precedent to empower the Antitrust Division to enforce our competition laws.
One last question of the Senator from New Hampshire, and that is: Will you commit to prioritizing and doing everything in your power to include language that will allow the Antitrust Division to retain and use all the fees it collects above the appropriated amount in future budgets consistent with the law's intent?
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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Thank you very much, Senator Shaheen. And as we know, there are major, major investigations--some suits already have been filed. Actually, from the prior administration going forward into this administration, they have been bipartisan in that way, as well as ongoing investigations.
So I do thank you for your commitment and look forward to working closely with you and the Democratic and Republican Members of the Appropriations Committee on the fiscal year 2025 budget process to uphold this commitment.
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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Thank you, Senator Shaheen.
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