Antitrust enforcement moves from independent agency to executive control
H.R. 384 — One Agency Act · Filed by Ben Cline (R-VA) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Jan 14, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill transfers all antitrust enforcement authority from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division. The FTC's antitrust staff, cases, assets, and funding move to DOJ over a transition period of up to 18 months. After the transfer, the FTC is barred from opening new antitrust investigations or cases, though it may continue existing matters with DOJ approval and can deputize former employees to assist.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is a structural reorganization of federal antitrust authority, moving it from an independent agency to the executive branch. This is a governance and institutional-design change, not a substantive change to antitrust law itself.
What the text implies
- Eliminates the FTC's independent voice in merger review and competition policy; future enforcement priorities will reflect the sitting President's agenda rather than bipartisan or expert consensus.
- Removes a check on DOJ overreach: the FTC's parallel authority previously allowed for competing enforcement philosophies and institutional restraint; consolidation eliminates that counterbalance.
- Premerger notification filings to the FTC are waived (Section 5(b)(1)), but the bill does not explicitly require notification to DOJ, creating potential ambiguity about whether merger filings continue at all.
- The Attorney General gains unilateral authority to rescind, modify, or enforce all existing FTC consent decrees (Section 4(a)(4)(D)), potentially reopening settled matters without FTC input.
- The transition period allows the Attorney General to restructure the Antitrust Division before the transfer is complete, potentially purging career staff or reorienting enforcement priorities mid-transition.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Consolidation may reduce bureaucratic overlap and accelerate enforcement decisions, potentially benefiting consumers through faster action on anticompetitive conduct. However, moving enforcement from an independent agency to a politically appointed Attorney General subordinates antitrust policy to executive priorities, reducing institutional insulation from political pressure and potentially weakening enforcement against politically favored industries or companies.
Who stands to gain
- Large technology companies (potential beneficiaries if DOJ enforcement becomes less aggressive than
- Industries with political influence over the sitting administration
- Companies subject to ongoing FTC consent decrees (may face renegotiation or rescission under DOJ con
Named in the bill
Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Department of Justice (DOJ), Attorney General, Antitrust Division (DOJ), Bureau of Competition (FTC), Bureau of Economics (FTC), Sherman Act, Clayton Act, Federal Trade Commission Act (Section 5)
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 3 Republicans.
- Jan 14, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 14, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 3 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $310,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 2 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Ben Cline, the sponsor, reported $666,776 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Accenture Llp — $210,000 on 2 filings
- Conservatives for Property Rights — $100,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 17, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (14,394 characters) on Nov 2, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,927 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 17, 2026 · page rendered 2026-11-02.
“Antitrust enforcement moves from independent agency to executive control” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr384 Report an error
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