Warren, Hawley Push Online Choice Act Protecting Users, but Can't Get Vote

A rare bipartisan bill that would prevent big-tech companies like Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Google from favoring their own products on their own platforms languishes in the Senate, despite vocal support from high-profile senators on both sides of the aisle.

Proponents of The American Innovation and Online Choice Act argue the current preferencing of Big Tech's own products makes smaller companies less competitive, which in turn can drive up prices for consumers.

Members of both the left and right, including the bill's Democratic sponsor Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Republican co-sponsor Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, agree that this bill can curb the dominance these tech companies exert over the digital marketplace.

Both Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, two of the upper chamber's most politically opposite members, said they want Schumer to bring the bill to a vote now.

So why hasn't that happened?

"Chuck Schumer does not want to vote on that," Hawley told Newsweek, "and the reason is because big tech spends a bajillion dollars lobbying folks."

Senator Warren is vocal about her support.

"I'm pushing hard to get a vote on this bill," Warren told Newsweek. "It's outrageous that an outfit like Amazon gets to play umpire by hosting all of the sales at the same time that they get to run teams in the game or businesses on their own platform."

"This bill would put a stop to that," she added. "It's got bipartisan support. That ought to be enough for us to get a vote on the floor. I want us to do it!"

Warren explained that the "premise behind markets is that everybody gets a chance to come in and compete." But she argues that the Big Tech firms aren't competing on a level playing field when they're collecting the data of other sellers and positioning their own products against less wealthy vendors.

Hawley agrees that going after these dominant firms promotes "robust competition," "innovation," and "good paying jobs." He is a co-sponsor of the bill, and said he would vote for the bill today. However, he's concerned that Schumer does not want to bring the bill to a vote.

"Schumer could have brought this to the floor," Hawley said. "I think Klobuchar expected he would bring it to the floor, and he didn't, and I take from that that, A) he does not have the votes to pass it and, B) he doesn't want to have the vote on it."

Senate Leader Charles Schumer promised the bill would get a vote in "early summer" [of 2022], then subsequently said would be voted on in late fall.

Newsweek contacted Schumer's office for comment multiple times but did not receive a response in time for publication.

Bloomberg reported on November 14 that a group of small tech companies will launch a six-figure ad buy in favor of the bill, yet as of June Big tech has already spent $36 million for ads opposing the measure, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Hawley said he would be "shocked" if the bill gets a vote, but nonetheless he hopes it continues to gain traction within his party. He said Republicans are historically the "party of antitrust," harkening back to President Theodore Roosevelt, who went after J.P. Morgan's railroad monopoly and John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil.

Grassley said that he remains in conversation with Klobuchar about the bill's passage, but will ultimately be waiting on the go-ahead from Schumer. Grassley worries that if does not pass this session, it never will.

"We know that if we don't get it up this year, we're gonna have a hard time with the Republican House next year," he told Newsweek. "So, we hope that this is an opportunity to move it, but we obviously need Schumer's help to do it."

"That's all I can report to you," he added, "because that's all I know."

As it stands, the bill has six Republican co-sponsors and seven Democratic co-sponsors. Klobuchar, the sponsor, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, first brought the bill forward in October of 2021.

The House version of the bill, which was sponsored by Democratic Congressman David Cicilline of Rhode Island, has 47 co-sponsors. It too has yet to be put to vote.

Klobuchar remains intent on working to ensure Congress' upper chamber gets its end of the deal done. In addition to this bill, she also remains focused on passing other antitrust measures to boost enforcement, and to allow local newspapers to collectively negotiate with social media firms for better compensation for use of their content.

"Despite the millions of dollars in ads and lobbying spent against us," Klobuchar told Newsweek, "we are determined to put common sense rules of the road in place for dominant tech platforms, protect local journalism, and give antitrust enforcers the resources they need to do their jobs."

"I am working with my colleagues across the aisle to move these bills forward," she added, "whether through a floor vote or by including them in an end of year package."