Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called out two major federal agencies for not playing a significant role in President Joe Biden’s antitrust agenda, blasting the Transportation and Agriculture departments for allowing their powers to block mergers and anticompetitive practices to “gather dust.”
In a sweeping speech Wednesday morning at the progressive Open Markets institution, Warren broadly praised the Biden administration’s antitrust agenda as the start of reversing 40 years of corporate consolidation. He asked the Justice Department to loosen stricter merger guidelines and reverse some past mergers, including the unpopular ones with LiveNation and Ticketmaster.
Instead, he pointed the finger at Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for failing to do their part.
“If the DOT determines the route transfer will hurt competition, just like JetBlue
can be acquired from the Spirit, there is no need to wait [Justice Department],” Warren said, referring to the potential merger of the two low-cost carriers. “Secretary Buttigieg has the power to stop anticompetitive airline mergers — and he needs to use that power now.”
Warren was even more critical of Vilsack, the former Iowa governor and longtime Biden ally. He blamed Vilsack for failing to block the merger of Wayne Farms and Sanderson Farms, two major poultry producers in the South, and continuing to award federal contracts to JBS, a large food processing company accused of bribery and price fixing.
“Why don’t you stop giving taxpayers money to these crooks? Well, as the secretary said, there really is no competition, so he has no choice but to keep working with corporate criminals,” Warren said. “Here’s the idea – break up the big meatpackers so there’s real competition.”
Warren also cited a lower-ranking regulator, Michael Hsu, the currency watchdog, for continuing to allow “anticompetitive” bank mergers.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.