ROCC Co-Leads Business Letter Opposing Cuts to DOJ Antitrust Budget

On March 21, 2024, the Responsible Online Commerce Coalition (ROCC) signed on to a letter urging Senate and House Appropriations Committee leadership to oppose FY2024 budget cuts for the DOJ Antitrust Division. The coalition of businesses also asked the Members of Congress to commit to fully funding the FTC and DOJ Antitrust Division in the upcoming FY2025 appropriations package.

The letter states: “Competition is a bedrock of the U.S. economy, and we strongly believe that providing the Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission with sufficient funding is essential to promoting competition and innovation for the benefit of all American consumers and businesses.”

Full text of the letter is available HERE and below:

Dear Chair Murray, Vice Chair Collins, Chairwoman Granger and Ranking Member DeLauro,

We write to you as a coalition of businesses and groups committed to the promotion of
competition and vigorous enforcement of antitrust law across the U.S. economy to express our
deep concerns with the FY2024 appropriations package’s inadequate funding for the Antitrust
Division of the Department of Justice. We strongly oppose the inclusion of language that
restricts the Antitrust Division’s access to critical resources that it needs to carry out its mission.
It is imperative that you fix this grave error for FY2024. Furthermore, we urge you to commit to
providing the Antitrust Division with increased funding for FY2025, without any restrictions on
access to premerger filing fees, consistent with the express language and intent of the bipartisan
Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act.

Competition is a bedrock of the U.S. economy, and we strongly believe that providing the
Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission with sufficient funding is essential to
promoting competition and innovation for the benefit of all American consumers and businesses.

Consistent with this, we echo the joint call from Senators Klobuchar (D-MN) and Grassley (RIA) and Representatives Nadler (D-NY), Buck (R-CO), and Neguse (D-CO) for a commitment
from you to ensure the Antitrust Division can fully access the premerger filing fees as intended
by the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act. As the bipartisan letter stated, “While there has
long been a strong commitment to fully enforce our antitrust laws, we must ensure the DOJ has
ample resources to take on cases that have become more complex and involve some of the
largest companies the world has ever known.”

In conclusion, we urge you to join Chair Shaheen (D-NH) in her pledge to do everything within
her power to restore full funding to the Antitrust Division. We urge you to do so for both the FY2024 and FY2025 appropriations package to ensure our federal antitrust agencies have the
resources they need to restore and promote competition across the U.S. economy.

Sincerely,

Advice Only
Beeper
Coalition for App Fairness (CAF)
Corellium
Digital Progress Institute
DuckDuckGo
Efani Secure Mobile
LI Toy & Game LLC
Proton
Responsible Online Commerce Coalition (ROCC)
SeatGeek
Thalorin
Thexyz Inc.
Yelp

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