Senate Judiciary Announces Wireless Competition Hearing

With Sprint making overtures to a merger with T-Mobile, the Senate antitrust subcommittee will be holding a hearing next Wednesday entitled “An Examination of Competition in the Wireless Market.”  The witness list features:

• Eric Graham, SVP of Strategic Relations, Cellular South
• Randal Milch, EVP and GC, Verizon
• Jonathan Spalter, Chairman, Mobile Future
• Thomas Sugrue, SVP of Govt Affairs, T-Mobile USA
• Matthew Wood, Policy Director, Free Press

Additional details may be found here.

posted by Anant Raut

Panel TODAY: “Congress’ Antitrust Agenda in 2014”

A final reminder:  as mentioned earlier this week, the Legislative Committee will be hosting a teleconference today, starting at noon, regarding Congress’ antitrust agenda for the coming year.  Participating in the teleconference will be an all-star panel of current Senate and House staffers.  In addition to taking calls from the phone lines, listeners will also have a chance to ask questions of the panelists in real time via Twitter (@anantitrust).

Additional details may be found here.

posted by Anant Raut

Feb. 20 Panel: “Congress’ Antitrust Agenda in 2014”

This Thursday, February 20th, at noon, the Legislative Committee will be hosting a teleconference to discuss Congress’ antitrust agenda for the coming year.  Our featured panelists will be:

• Caroline Holland, General Counsel and Staff Director, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, U.S. Senate
• Bryson Bachman, Chief Minority Counsel, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, U.S. Senate
• Anthony Grossi, Counsel, Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law, U.S. House of Representatives
• James Park, Chief Minority Counsel, Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law, U.S. House of Representatives

Full details of the program may be found here.  Listeners will have a chance to interact with our panelists via telephone as well as over Twitter (@anantitrust).

posted by Anant Raut

Congress Scrutinizing Comcast-TWC

The proposed merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable, announced last week, is already drawing scrutiny and opposition from members of Congress, The Hill reports.  House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and antitrust subcommittee Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-AL) have announced plans to hold an oversight hearing (see press release here).

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) released a noncommittal statement indicating that he would be watching the response of the antitrust authorities and the Federal Communications Commission.  Fellow Senator Al Franken (D-MN), who was quite publicly objected to AT&T’s failed acquisition of T-Mobile, has been far more vocal in his opposition, urging FCC Chairman Wheeler, Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Ramirez, and Attorney General Holder to oppose further concentration in the industry.

The full article may be found here.

posted by Anant Raut

This Week in Congress

Both the House and Senate are out of session this  holiday week.

posted by Anant Raut

This Week in Congress

Tuesday, Feb. 4th
“Privacy in the Digital Age:  Preventing Data Breaches and Combating Cyber Crime”
Senate Judiciary Committee

The witness list for the Senate Judiciary’s privacy hearing this week is as follows:

Panel I

Delara Derakhshani, Policy Counsel, Consumers Union
Michael Kingston, SVP and CIO, Neiman Marcus Group
John Mulligan, EVP and CFO, Target Corp.
Fran Rosch, SVP, Symantec Corp.

Panel II

Hon. Edith Ramirez, Chairwoman, FTC
William Noonan, Dep. Special Agent, Secret Service
Mythili Raman, AAG (acting), US DOJ (Criminal Div)

Dirksen 226@10:15 am

Wednesday, February 5th
“Protecting Consumer Information:  Can Data Breaches Be Prevented?”
House Energy & Commerce

The House E&C privacy hearing will feature the following witnesses:

Hon. Edith Ramirez, Chairwoman, FTC
Hon. Lisa Madigan, AG, State of Illinois
William Noonan, Dep. Special Agent, Secret Service
Lawrence Zelvin, Dir. of Nat’l Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center, DHS
Michael Kingston, SVP and CIO, Neiman Marcus Group
John Mulligan, EVP and CFO, Target Corp.
Bob Russo, GM, PCI Security Standards Council
Phillips Smith, SVP, Trustwave Holdings

2123 Rayburn@9:30am

posted by Anant Raut

Farm Bill Eliminates Some Dairy Price Protection, Adds Some

Earlier today, the House of Representatives passed the Farm Bill (full text here) that had been negotiated by members of both the House and Senate.  Of interest to the competition community will be Section 1423, which would eliminate the federal production support program for dairy milk in 7 U.S.C. 8773.  The House-passed Farm Bill instead includes an opt-in, federally-supported program to insure dairy producers’ margins (Sec. 1403).

According to The Hill, the Senate is expected to pass the same version of the bill, and President Obama, according to spokesperson Jay Carney, will sign it.

posted by Anant Raut

This Week in Congress

Congress is out of session this week.

posted by Anant Raut

This Week in Congress

Monday, Jan. 14th

Executive Session
Senate Commerce Committee

Today, the Senate Commerce Committee will hold an executive session to consider renominations from the first session of the 113th Congress.  Among the renominations to be considered will be Terrell McSweeny for Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission.

S-214 @5:40 p.m.

posted by Anant Raut

This Week in Congress

There are no antitrust- or privacy-related hearings in Congress this week.

posted by Anant Raut