[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 155 (Wednesday, September 27, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S6177]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Delrahim Nomination

  Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, our economy is in trouble. In markets all 
across our economy, a few giant corporations hold all the power. It is 
everywhere. Four airlines control over 80 percent of all domestic 
airline seats in America. Five health insurance giants own over 80 
percent of the health insurance market. Four companies dominate over 80 
percent of the beef market. Three drugstore chains control almost all 
retail pharmacies in the country. Two companies sell more than 70 
percent of the beer in America.
  As competition has been snuffed out in industry after industry, big 
corporations have made out like bandits, and everyone else has paid the 
price. How do we pay? American families shell out more for lower 
quality goods. Small businesses find it harder and harder to compete 
against the big guys. Innovators and entrepreneurs struggle to promote 
new ideas that can change the world. Income inequality has left more 
American families struggling to make ends meet as the top 1 percent has 
grown even richer and richer. As fewer companies have seized more 
economic power, they have translated their economic muscle into 
political power--power they can use to elect the politicians they like, 
get the kinds of laws and policies they like, and run up even more 
economic power.
  It is a nasty, self-perpetuating cycle, and it is exactly why 
Congress created antitrust laws over a century ago. Back then, like 
today, a few powerful companies were stifling competition in markets 
all across the economy and gaining extraordinary political power. 
Congress decided to create laws to break up trusts and protect 
competition.
  Today the Justice Department's Antitrust Division is charged with 
protecting competition by blocking anti-competitive mergers and going 
after companies that engage in illegal conduct. For decades, though, 
antitrust enforcers have put their tools on the shelf instead of 
aggressively enforcing our antitrust laws, they have given the green 
light to megamerger after megamerger and allowed big corporations to 
misuse this power without a peep.
  That problem is set to get worse in the Trump administration. Since 
taking office, President Trump has loaded his administration with a 
Who's Who of former lobbyists, Wall Street insiders, and corporate 
executives committed to tilting the scales even further in favor of his 
powerful friends and against American families.
  Now, President Trump has nominated someone to head the Justice 
Department's Antitrust Division. His nominee, Makan Delrahim, will be 
in charge of determining whether there is someone to stand up for 
competition or let the big guys just get bigger and more powerful. 
Unfortunately, Mr. Delrahim's approach to antitrust enforcement is 
based on a hands-off economic theory that just leaves big corporations 
to do pretty much whatever they want to do. Case in point, just last 
year, when asked what he thought about the proposed merger of AT&T-Time 
Warner--a merger that would combine two of the most powerful companies 
in media--Mr. Delrahim said he didn't think it was a ``major antitrust 
problem.''
  Mr. Delrahim spent over a decade working to convince government 
officials that other megamergers weren't antitrust problems. During the 
airline merger wave that left us with only four major carriers, Mr. 
Delrahim was lobbying the government to approve a merger between US 
Airways and Delta. Despite the fact that there are only a few large 
retail pharmacies, he lobbied to get government approval for CVS's 
proposed takeover of Caremark. Even though only five health insurers 
control the vast majority of the health insurance market, he tried to 
convince government regulators to approve Anthem's unsuccessful attempt 
to merge with Cigna.
  Now he wants to take a spin through the revolving door and regulate 
the industries he worked to make even less competitive. For the giant 
corporations, wealthy individuals who want to amass more power and 
profits for themselves, Mr. Delrahim is a dream candidate, but he is 
also a dream candidate for President Trump. President Trump has not 
been shy about his willingness to use his power against individuals or 
companies he doesn't like, and he has made it clear that he expects his 
agency heads to carry out his orders.
  Mr. Delrahim has been a loyal supporter of President Trump's since 
the campaign. He urged fellow Republicans to support President Trump 
because he correctly believed President Trump would appoint a pro-
corporate Justice to the Supreme Court. He also served as legal counsel 
to President Trump after he was sworn in and as the President reversed 
rules that made it easier for families to pay their mortgages or 
reversed rules to prevent people with serious mental illnesses from 
buying guns or reversed rules to stop companies from dumping toxic 
waste into water. As head of the Antitrust Division, Mr. Delrahim will 
be in a position to make even more harmful decisions.
  It is no secret that Americans don't trust Washington. They see 
politicians who care more about catering to corporate donors than 
fighting for the interests of hard-working people who are trying to 
figure out how to pay the bills and build a little security in their 
own lives. It is a real problem, but it is a problem we can solve. We 
can begin to solve it by fighting the economic concentration that is 
putting more money and more power into the hands of a few giant 
corporations. That means choosing enforcers who will hold companies 
accountable when they break the rules, and that means rejecting 
nominees like Makan Delrahim.