Thread by @matthewstoller

Watching Congressional oversight of antitrust enforcers FTC Chair Lina Khan and Antitrust Division chief Jonathan Kanter. judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/overs…

There won’t be a single objection to anything tangible in terms of policy. Just lots of insults based on abstract concerns about standards. Very on brand for this debate.

https://twitter.com/ashleyrgold/status/1572305089267630083

Jonathan Kanter notes the Antitrust Division has 352 fewer people than they did in 1979…

Lina Khan points out consolidation facilitates consumer abuses. Lack of resources at the agencies means fully delivering on the competition agencies’ mandate is difficult.

Khan: FTC ‘outgunned’ ten to one in their Facebook antitrust work.

Useful thread.

https://twitter.com/sarahmillerdc/status/1572292852507619329

Now @SenMikeLee is drilling down into market definition on the FTC Facebook suit, on 'personal social networking,' and then brings up their suit on Facebook's virtual reality market definition of fitness apps.

Khan *cannot* respond to this question because she is operating as a judge in the Meta/Within case. Lee knows this. That's pretty sleazy.

Khan: “There has been a problem of companies taking FTC orders as suggestions.”

Senator Blumenthal asks of the ftc will name the ceo of Twitter if they find violations. Khan says “Absolutely” if they find liability.

Grassley is asking about lamb and packer concentration. Not an Aaron Rodgers related question. #packers

Grassley and Khan are going back and forth on pharmacy benefits managers, DIR fees, insulin costs, and commercial bribery statutes that prohibit certain forms of rebates.

And @SenWhitehouse is asking for certain Antitrust Division-related documents, going back and forth on some relatively pedantic questions about the jurisdiction of Congressional oversight.

Ted Cruz is now going after the Department of Justice for withholding documents and offering contempt to Congress and the American public. Not specific to the Antitrust Division.

Cruz asking about 'zombie votes,' when a commissioner votes, leaves the commission, and those votes remain active. Says it's blatantly illegal and absurd.

Cruz is a bulldog and good at interrogating witnesses, but ultimately the question of whether a vote is held over for 30 days after a commissioner leaves is just abstract and not important.

Ted Cruz now expressing concern about low morale at the FTC, and asks whether the full Judiciary Committee should do a full oversight hearing of the FTC. Khan says she's happy to appear.

It's telling how vacuous these attacks actually are.

Booker asks a good question! What does the DOJ loss in the United Healthcare-Change merger mean?

Kanter talks up the Division's various wins - 3 abandoned mergers and one trial loss. Still reviewing the decision, mentions a possible appeal. "Part of the job is to litigate cases and to take risks... We are not going to back down from bringing meritorious cases."

Good question from Booker. The 3000+ mergers last year is up 87%. And asks about unlawful levels of consolidation and how the rest of the government can help. Khan discusses partnerships with other agencies, like DOD for the Lockheed-Aerojet merger.

Marsha Blackburn starts by saying Khan spoke to the "Law and Political Economy" project, which is affiliated with Marxism. Then asks whether Khan shares the 'anti-capitalist views of the Law and political economy project."

Wow Blackburn cuts Khan off before letting her answer leading questions where she basically calls her a Marxist. Very hostile.

Lina Khan is unruffled by a series of hostile lines of questioning by some Republican Senators. Impressive.

Blackburn asks about privacy rule-making, and softens. Khan responds by saying the FTC hopes Congress passes strong privacy legislation.

Now @HawleyMO is asking about Amazon's acquisition of One Medical, and Amazon entering into health care markets. Josh Hawley is going back and forth in a real substantive way with Lina Khan on health care consolidation and costs.

Hawley: What concerns should we have involving data privacy and mass consolidation re: health care?

Khan: More generally when you have firms integrated across multiple lines of business there are significant conflicts of interest within the business models.

Josh Hawley asks if the FTC has conditioned merger reviews on ESG or critical race theories adopted by the firm. Khan says no, and says she turns down deals when firms offer social justice policies in return for approving an unlawful deal.

Now comes Tom Cotton, who once called Khan a 'callow, radical law professor.'

Good times to watch @SenTomCotton. Attacking Blackrock and Larry Fink on climate issues, and whether that raises antitrust concerns.

Khan notes that firms try to come to the FTC to get out of antitrust liability by offering climate or diversity or other forms of ESG-type offerings. Khan says there is no ESG loophole in the antitrust laws.

And now @SenThomTillis asks about big tech and their use of IP (patents, copyright) to dominate smaller players. Khan talks about surveillance and copycatting of products.

Just a commentary, it's notable how @HawleyMO - considered a rabid right-wing partisan - probably had the friendliest and most substantive discussion with @linakhanFTC - called a 'callow radical law professor' on antitrust.

Overall the impact of the aggressive criticism of Khan by @FTCPhillips and @CSWilsonFTC has been muted.

Spoke too soon! Now @SenMikeLee is up again, saying that Khan is too partisan.

Lee is visibly angry that there are 3-2 votes at the FTC. The criticism is all abstract and procedural.

And @SenMikeLee is upset that the two Republican commissioners didn’t approve of Lina Khan’s testimony today. I mean, sure, ok. But really who cares?

Senator Coons asks how Kanter has protected career staff from political pressure. Eyeroll. Who cares?

Senator Coons asks about the ftc’s case against data broker Kochava. Khan says it’s a ‘very important case’ for the FTC. @mtaibbi ftc.gov/business-guida…

Here’s one datapoint on the impact of Lina Khan on the marketplace.

Now @SenMikeLee is asking Jonathan Kanter about airline ticket prices in and out of Salt Lake City.

Lee talks about there’s no new entry into airlines. And asks about how concentration in the US compares to abroad.

Lee is asking about the in-house litigation within the FTC, which creates a strange dynamic where the commission serves as both prosecutor and judge.