Washington, DC– Last week, Rep. Ben Cline (VA-06) reintroduced the One Agency Act, a bill that proposes consolidating federal antitrust enforcement within the DOJ’s Antitrust Division. The Federal Trade Commission would remain an independent agency, focusing on its consumer protection mission. This consolidation aims to strengthen consumer protection law enforcement while streamlining antitrust oversight.
“For far too long, our antitrust enforcement has been plagued by bureaucratic infighting and delays that hinder competition,” Rep. Cline said. “These inefficiencies have allowed sophisticated entities to manipulate the system to their advantage, escaping accountability for their anti-competitive actions. It’s time we address these issues head-on. We need to streamline and reinforce our antitrust enforcement within the Justice Department. The Department is more directly accountable to the American people and is structured to deliver the decisive enforcement necessary to protect consumers and ensure a fair marketplace.”
Under current law, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division share the responsibility for enforcing the antitrust laws.
This shared jurisdiction results in turf battles between the two agencies and backroom deals to investigate certain companies or industries, ultimately causing delays in investigations and harming enforcement, Cline said. In addition, today’s FTC also looks and acts very differently from what Congress originally envisioned, and the agency is facing constitutional challenges that might result in a weakened agency, he added.
-The Salem Times-Register
