Congress should determine whether antitrust legal community ‘exer...
Congress should determine whether antitrust legal community “exercised inappropriate influence” over recent plan to change FTC and Dept. of Justice (DoJ) merger review process, Media Access Project (MAP) told Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Hollings (D-S.C.). FTC and DoJ abruptly…
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dropped scheduled news briefing last week on details of proposal, which would have given DoJ jurisdiction over media merger reviews (CD Jan 18 p3). Critics say plan was crafted without proper consultation with Congress and all FTC commissioners. Hollings, who also leads Appropriations Commerce Subcommittee on Justice, State and Judiciary, should “pursue the matter aggressively,” MAP Pres. Andrew Schwartzman said Tues. in letter to Hollings: “MAP’s experience is that the FTC and [DoJ] have been quite effective in allocating responsibility for particular mergers. Those claiming otherwise typically are trade associations and lawyers who represent companies seeking merger approval. Their purported desire to expedite the review process may be more accurately described as an interest in obtaining approval of mergers, not improvement in antitrust enforcement.” FTC and Justice officials were meeting with Senate staffers to discuss antitrust proposal and its potential impact on Justice budget.