Klobuchar Statement on Senate Appropriations Committee’s Bill to Fund the Justice Department Antitrust Division

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, released the statement below following the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies issuing Fiscal Year 2025 appropriation bill text regarding the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division. The proposed funding is a 24% increase over the previous year and brings the bill into compliance with the law and congressional intent codified by the passage of the Klobuchar-led Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act.

"In 2022, I passed bipartisan legislation to boost antitrust enforcement funding. Earlier this year, those funds were diverted away from the Antitrust Division's essential work to protect American consumers, workers, and entrepreneurs," said Klobuchar. "I'm proud to have worked with Senator Shaheen to reverse that decision in the Senate and secure a 24% increase for next year to protect consumers and small businesses from anticompetitive behavior that increases prices, eliminates choices for consumers, and deters innovation."

In March 2024, Klobuchar led 27 of her colleagues in calling for the restoration of Antitrust Division funding. The letter urged the Senate and House Committees on Appropriations, Subcommittees on Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS), and Related Agencies to strike parts of the CJS appropriation bill text regarding Antitrust Division funding in order to bring the bill into compliance with the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act.

In December 2022, Congress enacted the bipartisan Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act to update the funding formula for premerger filing fees as part of the year-end government funding package. The legislation updated the merger filing fees for the first time since 2001 - lowering fees on smaller acquisitions and increasing them for the largest mergers - raising additional revenue that Congress intended to be used to strengthen enforcement of the antitrust laws. The Antitrust Division has been partially funded through these merger filing fees since 1989 when Congress amended the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act.

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