Congressional panels that slashed DOJ antitrust funds have cozy Big Tech ties: watchdogs

Key committees in both houses of Congress are riddled with cozy ties to Big Tech — and conflicts of interest could undercut a looming antitrust crackdown on Google and Apple, two watchdog groups warned.

Last month, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees were ripped by antitrust hawks after they passed a spending package that included a $45 million cut to the projected budget of the Justice Department’s antitrust arm – with Big Tech critics Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) among those who called for it to be reversed.

Multiple members of the powerful panels have received campaign contributions from or are personally invested in Big Tech firms, according to a joint report set to be released Tuesday by the Revolving Door Project and Fight For The Future.

The antitrust watchdogs also called out Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who sets the floor agenda and has two daughters who work for tech firms. Schumer has taken “more than $780,000 in campaign contributions from the sector, more than almost any member of Congress,” according to the report.

Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) has received more than $1 million from Big Tech firms or their employees during her career, and vice chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) has received more than $44,000 in campaign funds from tech since 2019 and alongside her husband owns up to $550,000 in tech stocks.

“Unfortunately, even as they are intervening to cut funding for antitrust enforcement against Big Tech and other corporate giants, [the lawmakers] and their staff are making money, collecting campaign contributions, and building their corporate networks from those very same companies—putting their professionalism and even their ethics in doubt,” the report said.