Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview on Wednesday that he plans to take a comprehensive look at monopolies across all industries as the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee chair.
Last House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) announced that Massie would serve as the Subcommittee chair on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust.
Massie told Breitbart News that he plans to investigate nearly all industries for potential solutions to anticompetitive and monopolistic behavior.
He explained, “I contend that no monopoly can survive in a free market. Most monopolies require the government to survive, and when the federal government gives handouts and carveouts and overregulates competition and indemnifies the incumbents, those are recipes for monopoly creation and growth. And we do way too much of that. So, without spilling the beans, I intend to cover a lot of areas with this committee. There’s almost no industry that doesn’t have some kind of monopoly or group of people that dominate the market unfairly because of government intervention, government carveouts, handouts, indemnification, and overregulation.”
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) strongly endorsed Massie in a statement this week. Russell Dye, a spokesperson said.
“Rep. Massie is one of the smartest minds in Congress and will work harder than anyone on holding Big Tech accountable,” Dye said. Dye noted that every issue from antitrust to holding big tech is on the table.
Massie said that he might be the perfect lawmaker for the committee, as he is both not afraid of ruffling feathers and does not raise enough money to worry about offending entrenched interests and donors.
The Kentucky conservative fought off critics who claimed that because he was nominated to serve as the antitrust subcommittee chairman, he would go softer than prior chairs on monopolies and other concentrated industries. He even contended that his subcommittee may broach other committees and discuss other bills that may further entrenched monopolies.
He elaborated, “There’s legislation that passes out of other committees that enables these monopolies. So, you know me, I’m not afraid of offending anybody and barely raised any money to start with. I’m like the perfect candidate to go in and upset a lot of monopolies that haven’t been visited because the committees of jurisdiction aren’t judiciary.”
“If somebody’s got a monopoly and they think they’re safe because I’m the chair of this, I think that they’re going to be sorely disappointed. They better hang on to their handouts and carveouts and indemnifications and overregulations.”
Massie added that if he had the power, he would call it the “Anti-Cronyist” subcommittee.
Massie’s appointment to the Judiciary antitrust subcommittee left some Republicans and other activists fearing that Massie would go lax on big tech and not focus on potential antitrust solutions. This includes Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO), who led the failed and controversial effort in the House to pass the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA), a bill that would create a media cartel for the largest media conglomerates to collectively bargain against technology platforms for more advertising revenue.
Conservatives and technology experts have warned that the media cartel bill, which distracted from bipartisan antitrust efforts, would lead to censorship of conservatives and would help only the largest media organizations.
Coincidentally, Massie’s critics have been vocal advocates for the media cartel bill and have spent months trying to swindle conservatives into backing a bill that may end up censoring conservatives.
Instead of attempting to pass legislation that was highly opposed by conservatives – then-Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Jordan, and many Senate conservatives – the House antitrust subcommittee can now focus on investigating and providing solutions to the most concentrated industries across America.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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