THE DAILY WHIP: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2016

H.R. 2745 –Standard Merger and Acquisition Reviews Through Equal Rules Act of 2015 (Rep. Farenthold – Judiciary)(One hour of debate).  This bill would severely hinder the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) ability to challenge proposed corporate mergers, protect consumers, and promote competition. 

The FTC is a bipartisan, independent agency that was established in 1914 to encourage long-term development of antitrust policy that is not subject to the particular priorities of any given administration, and was created to complement the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) antitrust division.  H.R. 2745 would strip the FTC of many of its unique, independent functions, which would: (1) be redundant to DOJ’s antitrust division, thereby transforming it into another executive enforcement agency in larger merger cases and (2) lessen the agency’s independence and ability to function autonomously.

H.R. 2745 would also require the FTC to challenge proposed mergers or acquisitions through the federal court rather than through its own administrative procedures.  Currently, the FTC is able to spur competition through analysis, expansive information-gathering, rigorous enforcement and the development of evidence unavailable to generalist courts. 

H.R. 2745 would erode over 100 years of administrative and judicial precedent regarding government reviews of proposed mergers to ensure they are not anti-competitive or anti-consumer.

The Rule, which was adopted yesterday, provides for hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the Chair and Ranking Member of the Committee on the Judiciary. 

Bill Text for H.R. 2745:
PDF Version

Background for H.R. 2745:
House Report (HTML Version)
House Report (PDF Version)

Suspension (1 bill)

1. H.Res. 658– Condemning in the strongest terms the terrorist attacks in Brussels on March 22, 2016, which murdered more than 30 innocent people, and severely wounded many more (Rep. Poe – Foreign Affairs)