Pass the CLEAN Mergers Act (SB4434). The last four years have been an open season for corporate consolidation, and the evidence is clear that some of those mergers sailed through federal review not because they were competitive, but because the process was compromised. Mandatory divestiture for transactions over $10 billion isn't radical — it's accountability.
The bill's structure is sound. Threshold transactions get unwound. Smaller deals from the covered period face a two-year review that can catch misrepresentation, improper communications, and decisions driven by factors that had nothing to do with competition. Consumers in markets where rivals were swallowed whole deserve that scrutiny. The personal liability provisions for CEOs and board members who obstruct compliance send exactly the right message: executives don't get to hide behind corporate structure when they've benefited from a rigged process.
Corporate lobbyists will call this unconstitutional. They'll say the timelines are impossible and the retroactive reach is unfair. What's actually unfair is that families paid higher prices and workers lost jobs because antitrust enforcers looked the other way. Support this bill.
First sent on July 8 by Progressive Action
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