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United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and United States Representative Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) introduced bicameral legislation to help stomp out rampant industry consolidation that allows companies to raise consumer prices and mistreat workers. The Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act would ban the biggest, most anticompetitive mergers and give the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) the teeth to reject deals in the first instance without court orders and to break up harmful mergers.
For capitalism to work for all Americans, our markets must have meaningful, robust competition. Since the 1970s, weak antitrust enforcement has led to increased industry consolidation across the American economy. Today, a handful of giant corporations are dominating countless industries to the detriment of consumers, workers, and entrepreneurs of all backgrounds. This worsening economic concentration also distorts our political processes, allowing the biggest and wealthiest firms to rig the rules in their favor.
Without robust competition, large opportunistic corporations are able to use inflation as a pretext to abuse their pricing power and jack up prices for American consumers at the grocery store, at the gas pump, and at the pharmacy. This excessive market power costs American families $5,000 per year on average and has depressed median household wages by $10,000.
Moreover, for the first time, the Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act would require the FTC and the DOJ to consider how a merger would impact workers -- and to reject mergers that would harm them. The bill would empower the FTC and the DOJ Antitrust Division to reject transactions that would exacerbate corporate domination of labor markets and block transactions that would weaken collective bargaining agreements, reduce employee benefits and compensation, or cause layoffs.
"For the last five decades, big companies have had almost free reign over our economy, squashing competitors, growing bigger and bigger, and abusing their market power to price gouge consumers and crush workers and small businesses. This unconstitutional behavior has to stop. My new bill with Rep. Jones would restore our country's anti-monopoly tradition by banning the biggest, most anticompetitive mergers and giving the DOJ and the FTC stronger tools to enforce our antitrust laws and restore real competition in our markets. Congress needs to take bold action to bring down prices for families and promote a fairer economy for all Americans, and our bill would do just that," said Senator Warren.
"In 2021, our antitrust agencies received more merger filings than in any other year during the last decade," said Congressman Mondaire Jones. "From major tech mergers between companies like Facebook and Instagram to agriculture mergers between companies like Wayne and Sanderson Farms, the recent rise in corporate consolidation has increased unemployment, suppressed wages, and allowed companies to hike up prices even further during this period of inflation. It's why we need the Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act, which I'm proud to introduce with Senator Elizabeth Warren. Our bill would empower workers, raise wages, reduce prices, combat inequality, and enable small businesses to thrive. By banning the biggest, most anticompetitive mergers, overhauling the merger-review process to include consideration of labor-market consequences, and strengthening agencies' tools to break up harmful mergers, our bill will tackle corporate consolidation head on and help build a fairer, more vibrant economy that works for everyone."
Specifically, the Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act would:
Senator Warren and Rep. Jones have previously called on the DOJ to consider opposing large, anticompetitive mergers. Earlier this year, they slammed the proposed merger between Sanderson Farms and Wayne Farms, two of the country's largest poultry processors, and called on the DOJ to thoroughly review the deal and step in to prevent harm to American farmers and consumers as poultry prices soar. Warren and Jones also raised concerns to the DOJ and Department of Transportation that Frontier Airlines' proposed acquisition of Spirit Airlines could further increase airline concentration, which has reduced competition and hurt consumers and workers over the past several decades. Senator Warren has also called on the FTC to consider harms to workers and harms throughout entire business ecosystems in a letter regarding Amazon's proposed acquisition of MGM Studios, and she questioned the effectiveness of behavioral remedies altogether in the defense industry in a letter regarding Lockheed Martin's proposed acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne, a vertical deal that the parties recently abandoned. All of these transactions would have been prohibited under this new legislation.
The legislation is cosponsored in the Senate by U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Minn.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Edward J Markey (D-Mass.).
The legislation is cosponsored in the House by U.S. Representatives Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Katie Porter (D-Calif.), Jesus "Chuy" Garcia (D-Ill.), Andy Levin (D-Mich.), Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Mark Takano (D-Calif.), and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.).
The legislation is endorsed by more than 70 antitrust, labor, agriculture, and advocacy organizations including Public Citizen, Open Markets Institute, Communications Workers of America, Color of Change, American Economic Liberties Project, Food & Water Watch, Farm Action Fund, United for Respect, Strategic Organizing Center, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, and Teamsters.
"The Teamsters are proud to stand alongside Senator Warren as she introduces legislation recognizing how workers are at the core of mergers and significant corporate concentration," said International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa. "For too long, workers have been left behind in the merger process that invariably impacts their lives and families. On a broader scale, this legislation is a major step in the right direction for greater worker inclusion and representation on antitrust issues that affect workers' wages, job security and overall working conditions. We hope Congress will act swiftly to pass this legislation and give workers the seat at the table they deserve."
"It's high time we revamped America's approach to corporate concentration. Over the past few decades, major companies in air travel, telecommunications, agriculture, and social media have combined or hoovered up competitors to the detriment of the economy and with real impacts for regular Americans. This groundbreaking legislation would put power back in the hands of the public, reduce corporate concentration in the economy, and restore fair competition for the benefit of small businesses, workers, and consumers," said Matthew Kent, Competition Policy Advocate, Public Citizen.
"The Open Markets Institute strongly applauds Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congressman Mondaire Jones for introducing the Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act of 2022, a critically important and transformative bill. Monopolists directly threaten freedom of the press and freedom of expression, the stability of our most basic industrial and financial systems, and the liberty to build better communities, better businesses, and better technologies. The American people repeatedly and resoundingly have expressed our fear of private monopoly and our intention to break or neutralize all concentrated private power. We hope today's legislation marks a first step towards the restoration and strengthening of the true will of the American people as expressed through Congress in the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914," said Barry Lynn, Executive Director of the Open Markets Institute.
"The Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act of 2022 takes direct aim at the record-shattering merger frenzy now supercharging the concentration of wealth and power in America," said Sarah Miller, Executive Director of the American Economic Liberties Project. "This legislation prioritizes the needs of working people, honest businesses, and consumers, clearly prohibiting the largest mergers and providing antitrust enforcers with important tools to block and unwind bad deals. It offers critical support to the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice as the agencies work to confront the current merger boom. And it remedies many of the most serious issues with current federal merger policy. Congress should pass it immediately."
"It is critical that we look at mergers through the lens of their impact on minority-owned businesses," said Rashad Robinson, President of Color Of Change. "Approving mergers without doing so has become a key driver of inequality: for decades, corporate monopolies have directly suppressed the growth of Black-owned businesses and the contributions of Black entrepreneurs. Antitrust reform like the Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act of 2022 will help ensure the long-overdue investments in Black communities, and Color Of Change applauds Senator Warren and Representative Jones for standing up to the many harmful effects of consolidated corporate power. Stronger antitrust legislation is an essential tool for ensuring racial justice in our economy."
"Concentrated market power is the single biggest threat facing independent businesses in my community," said Theodora Skeadas, Executive Director of Cambridge Local First (CLF). "Cambridge Local First represents nearly 500 unique small businesses in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A key part of our mission is to promote and celebrate a 'local economy community' and support our home town businesses. We need Congress to step in and stand up to giant businesses like Amazon that are undermining our communities. It's a relief to see Sen. Warren and Rep. Jones bringing some basic fairness back to our economy."
"Local independent businesses are the backbone of our communities in New York," said Bob Giordano, President/Founder of the Westchester Independent Business Alliance. "They provide character and individuality while keeping jobs and money in the local community. Our small businesses do so much for our communities, but too often the deck is stacked in favor of dominant companies like Amazon, big box stores and national and regional chains. We need this legislation to break up the power of monopolies and ensure small, independent businesses a fair shot at competing."
"Many of the difficulties facing American families today - from inflated prices for everyday needs to threats to our food safety, health and climate - can be traced back to egregious corporate mega-mergers that were foolishly rubber-stamped in recent years. This critical legislation will put a halt on anti-competitive, anti-consumer mergers, and also put a halt to some of the worst corporate profiteering that is so rampant in our country today," said Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch, a national advocacy group. "It's time for Congress to get serious about protecting American families and workers, and make this bill the law."
"Antitrust agencies have had to combat record-breaking levels of consolidation with one hand tied behind their backs," said Sarah Carden, Policy Advocate at Farm Action Fund. "Our small businesses, our farms, our communities -- they need an economy that works for them, not one that just pumps out more corporate profits. This bill can deliver that."
"Organic dairy farm families thrive on competition to set a fair price for their organic milk. With the exit of Danone there is only one buyer of organic milk in New England and Eastern New York. Without competition the price we currently receive is 15% below the cost of production and equal to what we were paid in 2014. The Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance supports the Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act to provide a living wage for all farmers," said NODPA Board President Liz Bawden.
"Organic farmers are being harmed by extreme consolidation in the food system. Right now, dozens of organic dairy farmers in New England are facing an economic crisis because one of the very few buyers of organic milk is shifting to large farms in other regions of the country. The Organic Farmers Association supports the Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act because farmers and the resilience of our food supply suffer when already dominant companies are allowed to get even bigger. Stopping the growth of mega-mergers is the first step in getting more buyers and a fair price for organic farmers," said Kate Mendenhall, Director of Organic Farmers Association.
A full list of endorsements can be found here.
Letter of support from advocacy organizations can be found here.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat and fearless consumer advocate who has made her life's work the fight for middle class families, was elected to the United States Senate on November 6, 2012, by the people of Massachusetts.
"U.S. officials are escalating deadly attacks on one of the poorest and most devastated nations in the Middle East, while recklessly pushing the U.S. toward a wider regional war with Iran," said one peace group.
This is a developing news story... Please check back for possible updates.
U.S. President Donald Trumpannounced Saturday that he had ordered the military to "launch decisive and powerful" action against the Houthis in war-torn Yemen, a glaring contradiction of what critics have called the Republican's "anti-war charade."
The U.S. bombing follows Trump redesignating the Houthis—also known as Ansar Allah—as a terrorist organization shortly after returning to office in January and comes just days after the group renewed a blockade on Israeli ships.
Shuaib Almosawa reported earlier this week for Drop Site News that "the military spokesperson for the Houthi-led government in Yemen on Tuesday announced the resumption of the naval blockade targeting Israeli ships traversing Yemen's waterways, following the expiration of its deadline for Israel to allow aid into the besieged Gaza Strip."
"In a televised statement broadcast by Almasirah TV channel, Houthi spokesperson, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, said that the blockade on Israeli ships now covers Yemen's waterways in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait," according to Almosawa, a freelance journalist based in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.
Trump's lengthy Saturday post on his Truth Social platform did not explicitly mention Israel or Gaza. He said in part that "funded by Iran, the Houthi thugs have fired missiles at U.S. aircraft, and targeted our Troops and Allies. These relentless assaults have cost the U.S. and World Economy many BILLIONS of Dollars while, at the same time, putting innocent lives at risk."
Almosawa reported Saturday that at least nine civilians have been killed in Trump's new bombing campaign.
According toThe Associated Press:
The Houthi media office said the U.S. strikes hit "a residential neighborhood" in Sanaa's northern district of Shouab. Sanaa residents said at least four airstrikes rocked the Eastern Geraf neighborhood in Shouab district, terrifying women and children in the area.
"The explosions were very strong," said Abdallah al-Alffi. "It was like an earthquake."
The United States, Israel, and Britain have previously hit Houthi-held areas in Yemen. Israel's military declined to comment.
Trump noted the bombings under former U.S. President Joe Biden, saying Saturday that his predecessor's "response was pathetically weak, so the unrestrained Houthis just kept going."
The U.S.-based peace group CodePink called out another part of Trump's post, saying that he "claimed that the Houthis have waged an 'unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism' against America and other ships, aircraft, and drones. However, he conveniently ignores critical context behind these actions. The Houthis' attacks on foreign cargo ships began in response to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, aimed at deterring the continuation of Israel's ongoing plan to ethnically cleanse Palestine."
"This campaign ceased when a cease-fire was finally put in place, only to resume due to Israel's ongoing violations of the cease-fire agreement," CodePink continued, noting Israeli strikes that just reportedly killed aid workers and journalists in Gaza. "Instead of confronting the root causes of this violence, U.S. officials are escalating deadly attacks on one of the poorest and most devastated nations in the Middle East, while recklessly pushing the U.S. toward a wider regional war with Iran."
"CodePink and its allies demand an immediate halt to U.S. military intervention in Yemen and across the Middle East," the group concluded. "We call on the government to prioritize peace and justice by immediately ending all military aid and funds to Israel and holding Israel accountable for breaking the cease-fire."
Members of Congress across the political spectrum have a history of criticizing U.S. bombings of Yemen throughout its decadelong civil war as illegal. Justin Amash, a libertarian former Michigan congressman, slammed the Saturday strikes on social media.
"I'll say it again. It is unconstitutional for President Trump to engage in acts of war in Yemen," Amash explained. "It doesn't matter how appropriate you think it is for the U.S. to take on Houthis or terrorists or anyone. Congress has not authorized war in Yemen. Engaging in war there is unlawful."
"It underscores that his critiques of white supremacy in the Age of Trump are perceived as threatening for one simple reason: He's right."
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has faced a flood of condemnation since announcing on social media Friday that "South Africa's ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country."
"Ebrahim Rasool is a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates President Donald Trump," the secretary claimed. "We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA."
In the post on X—the social media site owned by Elon Musk, Trump's South Africa-born billionaire adviser—Rubio linked to an article by the right-wing news site Breitbart about Rasool saying during a Friday webinar that the U.S. president is leading global a white supremacist movement.
As examples of Trump's "Make America Great Again" movement exporting its "supremacist assault," Rasool pointed to Musk elevating Nigel Farage, leader of the far-right Reform U.K. party, and Vice President JD Vance meeting with the leader of the neo-Nazi Alternative for Germany party.
Responding to Rubio on X, North Carolina State University assistant teaching professor Nathan Lean said: "Ebrahim Rasool is a man of genuine decency, moral courage, and is a friend. This makes me absolutely embarrassed to be an American. And it underscores that his critiques of white supremacy in the Age of Trump are perceived as threatening for one simple reason: He's right."
The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) similarly responded: "Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool is a principled leader who fought alongside Nelson Mandela against apartheid and has dedicated his career to democracy, interfaith cooperation, and justice. Baseless attacks like this only serve to divide. We stand by him and his lifelong commitment to building a more just and inclusive world."
Laila Al-Arian, executive producer of Al Jazeera's "Fault Lines," declared that "this administration is virulently and unabashedly Islamophobic, not even trying to hide how unhinged they are as they go after people for speech."
Rasool previously served as ambassador during the Obama administration and returned to the role shortly before Trump began his second term. Earlier this week, Semafor reported on his difficulties dealing with the current administration:
He has failed to secure routine meetings with State Department officials and key Republican figures since Trump took office in January, Washington and South African government insiders told Semafor, drawing frustration in Pretoria.
Rasool is likely to have been frozen out for his prior vocal criticism of Israel, a South African diplomat, based in Washington, told Semafor. "A man named Ebrahim, who is Muslim, with a history of pro-Palestine politics, is not likely to do well in that job right now," said one of them. While South Africa brought a case against Israel to the International Court of Justice in December 2023, accusing it of genocide in Gaza, Rasool is nevertheless widely considered to be among the government's most ardent pro-Palestine voices.
South African political analyst Sandile Swana told Al Jazeera on Friday that the "core of the dispute" with the diplomatic was the genocide case against U.S.-armed Israel. In the fight against apartheid, the U.S. "supported the apartheid regime," said Swana. "Rasool continues to point out the behaviour of the United States, even now is to support apartheid and genocide."
Other critics also pointed to the ongoing court battle over Israel's utter destruction of Gaza and mass slaughter of Palestinians.
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) national executive director Nihad Awad told Rubio: "Your declaration of Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool as persona non grata is a racist, Islamophobic, transparent act of retaliation for South Africa's opposition to Israel's genocide in Gaza."
Imraan Siddiqi, a former congressional candidate in Washington who now leads the state's branch of CAIR, said that "he stood up firmly against apartheid, so it's no coincidence you're punishing him in favor of an openly apartheid state."
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's office said in a statement Saturday that "the presidency has noted the regrettable expulsion of South Africa's ambassador to the United States of America, Mr. Ebrahim Rasool.
"The presidency urges all relevant and impacted stakeholders to maintain the established diplomatic decorum in their engagement with the matter," the office added. "South Africa remains committed to building a mutually beneficial relationship with the United States of America."
The diplomat's expulsion follows Trump signing an executive order last month that frames South Africa's land law as "blatant discrimination" against the country's white minority. Writing about the order for Foreign Policy in Focus, Zeb Larson and William Minter noted that "his actions echo a long history of right-wing support in the United States for racism in Southern Africa, including mobilization of support for white Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) as well as the apartheid regime in South Africa."
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"It's increasingly clear that we're entering a modern McCarthy moment," said the head of the ACLU.
U.S. President Donald Trump's campaign-like speech at the Department of Justice on Friday sparked a fresh wave of alarm over the Republican's attacks on his critics, disrespect for the rule of law, and plans for his second term.
Trump—who was convicted of 34 felonies in New York before returning to the White House—slammed his perceived opponents as "scum" and "thugs," called efforts to hold him accountable for alleged criminal activity "bullshit," and declared: "We will expel the rogue actors and corrupt forces from our government. We will expose... their egregious crimes and severe misconduct."
Trump's appearance with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and props promoting drug enforcement displayed his intent to remake the federal judiciary and fueled speculation that he will appoint Florida-based District Judge Aileen Cannon, who dismissed the classified documents case against him, to the nation's Supreme Court.
"Some of the most hallowed halls of justice in America were disgraced by the president of the United States, who has inappropriately installed his personal lawyers and other loyalists into leadership roles at the Department of Justice," said Lena Zwarensteyn, senior director of the fair courts program and an adviser at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
"This reinforces what we knew: The independence of the department has been compromised. During his remarks, the president sought to undermine faith in our judicial system, attacked lawyers who support due process and the rule of law, and made it clear that he expects the attorney general and other leaders to use the full force and resources of the Justice Department to roll back our civil and human rights, target his enemies, and operationalize a worldview that perpetuates white supremacy," she said. "The anti-immigrant rhetoric that both he and the attorney general used was reprehensible and unacceptable."
Zwarensteyn stressed that "in our democracy, Justice Department lawyers—including the attorney general—are the people's lawyers, not the president's lawyers, and they have a sacred duty to enforce our nation's laws without prejudice and with an eye toward justice. The DOJ must be seen by the public—every member, from every community—as fair and independent arbiters of our legal system. Today's appearance at the DOJ by the president, during which he thanked and called out his appointees and personal lawyers, will further tarnish the public's trust of the department and undermine our democracy."
"This cannot be the way that the DOJ—the nation's signature agency for the enforcement of our federal civil rights laws—functions moving forward. We need a DOJ that is working for the people, not the president, and we demand better of our federal government and its leaders," she concluded, calling on the Senate to reject his nomination of Harmeet Dhillon to a key department post.
One of Trump's targets during the speech was Norm Eisen, who was involved with the president's first impeachment and previously served as White House special counsel for ethics and government reform, U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic, and board chair of the watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
Eisen responded with a video on social media, highlighting his work with State Democracy Defenders Action, which he co-founded.
ACLU executive director Anthony Romero said in a statement that "Ambassador Norman Eisen is a great American patriot, with an extraordinary career in public service. He has served the American people for decades inside and outside of government. He has worked to defend democracy at home and abroad."
"It is a sad day when the president of the United States personally attacks an individual of such character," Romero continued. "When charitable organizations like CREW, the ACLU, and others sue the federal government to uphold the law, we are playing a vital role in upholding American values."
The ACLU leader also warned that "it's increasingly clear that we’re entering a modern McCarthy moment. When the government is targeting a former ambassador, a legal permanent resident, law firms, and even universities and treating them like enemies of the state, it is a dark day for American democracy."
Since Trump returned to power in January, his administration has not only empowered billionaire Elon Musk to dismantle the federal government but also targeted news outlets, student protesters, and education institutions while signaling a willingness to ignore court orders—fueling calls for Congress to hit him with a historic third impeachment.