(Bloomberg) — The Congressional Progressive Caucus called for Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to bring legislation to rein in technology giants to a floor vote before the August recess.
The lawmakers said in a letter to Schumer that a 16-month investigation led by the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee discovered that “these platforms routinely abuse their gatekeeper power to hurt rivals and destroy competition — thereby harming consumers, the free press, innovation, and the American economy.”
The legislation “has the full support of the Biden Administration,” the lawmakers said in the Wednesday letter.
The American Innovation and Choice Online Act would ban major tech companies from giving advantages to their own products over those of competitors, including Amazon.com, Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Another piece of legislation, the Open App Markets Act, would break open Google and Apple’s duopoly over the app-store market.
Critics and supporters of the measures are watching whether Congress has the votes to turn the bills into law. Several Democrats are on the fence, while others aren’t revealing their stance.
Schumer said earlier this week he supports the legislation but signaled he wants to ensure there’s enough support to overcome a filibuster.
“I want to bring them to the floor, we have to see that we have 60 votes,” he told reporters.
Chances of legislation getting passed after August recess are slim, when lawmakers are expected to shift their focus to the November midterms.
One of Schumer’s daughters is a registered Amazon lobbyist and another works for Meta, which sparked criticism from antitrust advocates. Sixteen progressive groups called for Schumer’s recusal from the legislation in a separate letter Friday, arguing that he has a conflict of interest due to his daughter’s occupations.
The current push to crack down on tech has spawned a flurry of lobbying around the measures and prompted chief executive officers including Apple’s Tim Cook, Google’s Sundar Pichai and Amazon’s Andy Jassy to come to Washington to meet with lawmakers about the proposals.
Lawmakers who signed the letter include Representatives Pramila Jayapal, Ilhan Omar, Jan Schakowsky, chair of the consumer protection and commerce committee, and Katie Porter.
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