We should renegotiate trade deals, protect Social Security and Medicare, and initiate antitrust suits against the most egregious corporate abuses.
Initiate antitrust suits against the most egregious corporate abuses.
Occurrences
Evidence
Recent reporting in the lookback window says a court filing revealed President Trump spoke with Live Nation's CEO before the Justice Department settled its antitrust case against Live Nation/Ticketmaster; the settlement drew criticism as too lenient, while state claims continued after a jury found monopoly conduct.
The Federal Reserve Board announced approval of Capital One's application to merge with Discover and said it evaluated competitive and financial-stability impacts. It also entered a consent order with Discover and assessed a $100 million fine over interchange fees.
Axios reported that Sen. Josh Hawley demanded the Biden administration block Capital One's proposed acquisition of Discover Financial Services, aligning with critics who wanted regulators to stop the deal.
The Senate Judiciary Committee announced the 119th Congress Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights membership, listing Sen. Josh Hawley as a member under Chair Mike Lee.
Congress.gov lists Hawley as an original cosponsor of the AMERICA Act. The bill remained at introduced status after referral to the Senate Judiciary Committee and would have provided enforcement by DOJ, state attorneys general, and private actions.
The Justice Department and state attorneys general filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation-Ticketmaster for alleged monopolization and sought structural relief to restore competition in live concerts.
Assessments
Hawley showed antitrust-related effort, including cosponsoring the AMERICA Act, serving on the Senate antitrust subcommittee, and urging regulators to block the Capital One-Discover merger. But the promised outcome was to initiate antitrust suits against major corporate abuses, and the evidence does not show Hawley caused or materially advanced any such suit. The Capital One-Discover deal was approved rather than challenged, and the Live Nation-Ticketmaster case was initiated by DOJ before the relevant post-2024 Senate term and is not attributable to Hawley. Because there were serious but unsuccessful efforts toward antitrust enforcement, this is a failed promise with an effort badge.