Main Street Competes Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, Main Street America is a critical part of our economy and its success hinges on a competitive marketplace.

Unfortunately, the competitive landscape that small firms rely on has been eroded for decades as large companies have absorbed significant market share across many industries. Seventy-five percent of industries have seen increasing concentrations since the mid-1990s, and today, the average firm is roughly three times larger than it was 20 years ago.

That is why we have Federal antitrust laws to prevent monopolies and corporate collusion and to protect small businesses' ability to compete. However, in recent decades, their enforcement has been limited, contributing to the continued consolidation in our economy.

Luckily, small businesses have a voice in the Federal Government: the SBA's independent Office of Advocacy. Its primary function by law includes ``recommending specific measures for creating an environment in which all businesses will have the opportunity to compete effectively and expand to their full potential.''

Advocacy is uniquely situated to work with antitrust enforcement entities like the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department. That is why the Main Street Competes Act was introduced. It directs Advocacy to assess the FTC and DOJ's antitrust work and produce an annual report on the competitive landscape for small businesses.

Mr. Speaker, I thank and commend my colleagues Ms. Scholten, Mr. Schmidt, Ranking Member Velazquez, and Chairman Williams for working on this bill and making sure that we take action on market consolidation.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. OLSZEWSKI. Scholten), the sponsor of this bill.

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Mr. OLSZEWSKI. Mejia).

Mr. Speaker, the Main Street Competes Act would direct the SBA's Office of Advocacy to evaluate the Federal Trade Commission's and Justice Department's efforts to protect small businesses from unfair, anticompetitive practices and to report annually on the state of the competitive landscape.

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