House’s Antitrust Champion Seeks to Win Over Skeptical Democrats

(Bloomberg) -- The Democrat leading the House's push to challenge the dominance of technology giants in the digital economy is trying to win over more moderate colleagues who don't yet support his bipartisan antitrust bills. 

A Democratic aide said David Cicilline, the Rhode Island Democrat who chairs the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee, on Thursday met with the New Dems, a caucus of 97 centrist Democrats, some of whom are skeptical of his tech-focused legislation. 

The four bills, aimed at Apple Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google, were part of a bipartisan antitrust package that advanced out of committee last June, but still lack the Democratic support required to pass the full House, even with some Republican votes. 

Cicilline answered questions during the Thursday Zoom meeting about how his committee's legislation would affect American competitiveness and user privacy, the aide said. Both are issues that have been raised by the technology companies that oppose the bills. 

The meeting didn't cover any changes that might be made to the legislation before it goes to the House floor for a vote, added the aide, who was granted anonymity to discuss the meeting. 

Another group of Democrats who are against the measures includes lawmakers who represent the districts that are home to the companies that would be affected, led by Representative Zoe Lofgren of California. The New Dems plan to meet with her to discuss her concerns next week, the aide said. 

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