The Democratic leader of the Senate’s antitrust panel wants Congress to stop pestering tech executives and start advancing legislation taking aim at the industry’s dominant players.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Democrat, said Wednesday she wants the Senate Judiciary Committee to review legislation from her antitrust panel in January so that a crackdown on tech does not wait until after the midterm elections.
Democrats have discussed various ideas for targeting dominant tech platforms and held hearings for several months with executives from Facebook, Instagram, and other companies.
Ms. Klobuchar, who leads the antitrust panel within the judiciary committee, made clear she is tired of waiting on her colleagues to get her desired tech crackdown moving.
“I don’t want to have any more hearings with CEOs and throwing popcorn at them,” said Ms. Klobuchar at an antitrust hearing on Wednesday. “We need to have action and get this done.”
Ms. Klobuchar said her frustration was aimed at “the rest of the Senate especially” and she wanted “no more hearings” because it was time to mark-up existing proposals in January.
“We have to get some of these tech bills to the floor so we can get the floor time to actually pass them,” Ms. Klobuchar said. “So that is my goal — less talk, more action.”
She cited a proposal she authored with Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, as one of the bills at the top of her agenda.
The American Innovation and Choice Online Act was introduced in October and intends to prohibit dominant platforms by favoring their own products and discriminating against rivals on the dominant platforms’ services, according to Ms. Klobuchar’s announcement in October.
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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