WASHINGTON – Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)
and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) recently introduced bipartisan legislation to
ensure that antitrust authorities have the resources they need to protect
consumers. The
Merger
Filing Fee Modernization Act unanimously passed out of the Senate
Judiciary Committee today.
“Consumers
depend on the FTC and Justice Department to vet proposed mergers and guard against
anticompetitive practices. It’s important that these government agencies have
the resources needed to protect consumers and taxpayers. Unfortunately, our
outdated system is not getting the job done and ultimately hurts small and
medium sized businesses,” Grassley said. “I’m proud to co-author this
bipartisan bill, which will improve fairness in the fee schedules for proposed
mergers and strengthen the ability of these agencies to challenge
anticompetitive transactions. The committee vote today brings it one step
closer to becoming law.”
Premerger filing fees have not changed
since 2001 despite the steady march of inflation, and the current fee structure
places too heavy a burden on smaller deals and too small a fee on larger deals.
The fee for a $900 million deal should not be the same as the fee for a $60
billion deal. And despite the massive increase in merger filings in the last
five years and public calls for action to protect competition, funding for
enforcement authorities has stagnated.
The
Merger
Filing Fee Modernization Act would update merger filing fees for the
first time since 2001, lower the burden on small and medium-sized businesses,
ensure larger deals bring in more income and raise enough revenue so that
taxpayer dollars aren’t required to fund necessary increases to agency
enforcement budgets. To ensure this legislation is a permanent solution to the
outdated fee structure and not a one-time fix, the filing fees will be linked
to increases in the Producer Price Index going forward.
