I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 384
To transfer antitrust enforcement from the Federal Trade Commission to
the Attorney General, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY14, 2025
Mr. C
LINE(for himself, Mr. FITZGERALD, and Ms. HAGEMAN) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To transfer antitrust enforcement from the Federal Trade
Commission to the Attorney General, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘One Agency Act’’. 4
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 5
Congress finds the following: 6
(1) It is the policy of the United States to pro-7
mote the vigorous, effective, and efficient enforce-8
ment of the antitrust laws. 9
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(2) The overlapping antitrust enforcement ju-1
risdiction of the Department of Justice and the Fed-2
eral Trade Commission has wasted taxpayer re-3
sources, hampered enforcement efforts, and caused 4
uncertainty for businesses and consumers in the 5
United States. 6
(3) It is preferable that primary Federal re-7
sponsibility for enforcing the antitrust laws of the 8
United States be given to a single entity, and the 9
Department of Justice is best suited to do so. 10
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 11
In this Act: 12
(1) A
NTITRUST LAWS.—The term ‘‘antitrust 13
laws’’ means— 14
(A) the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 1 et seq.); 15
and 16
(B) the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12 et 17
seq.). 18
(2) E
FFECTIVE DATE.—The term ‘‘effective 19
date’’ means the date described in section 6. 20
(3) FTC.—The term ‘‘FTC’’ means the Fed-21
eral Trade Commission. 22
(4) FTC
ANTITRUST ACTION.—The term ‘‘FTC 23
antitrust action’’ means any investigation, litigation, 24
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administrative proceeding, or other action at the 1
FTC that— 2
(A) is supervised by an FTC antitrust 3
unit; or 4
(B) relates to the antitrust laws or unfair 5
methods of competition under section 5 of the 6
Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45), 7
as in effect on the day before the effective date. 8
(5) FTC
ANTITRUST ASSETS.—The term ‘‘FTC 9
antitrust assets’’— 10
(A) means all electronic or tangible records 11
and files relating to matters supervised, as well 12
as any physical assets or equipment owned and 13
used or retained, by an FTC antitrust unit; and 14
(B) does not include any office space or 15
leased facilities or equipment. 16
(6) FTC
ANTITRUST EMPLOYEE .—The term 17
‘‘FTC antitrust employee’’ means an individual who 18
on the day before the effective date is employed by 19
the FTC and assigned to an FTC antitrust unit. 20
(7) FTC
ANTITRUST FUNDING .—The term 21
‘‘FTC antitrust funding’’ means all amounts appro-22
priated before the effective date by an Act of Con-23
gress to the FTC that are designated, by Congress 24
or the FTC for an FTC antitrust unit. 25
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(8) FTC ANTITRUST UNIT.—The term ‘‘FTC 1
antitrust unit’’ means— 2
(A) the Bureau of Competition of the 3
FTC; and 4
(B) each division of the Bureau of Eco-5
nomics of the FTC that is designated to work 6
on FTC antitrust actions. 7
(9) T
RANSITION PERIOD.—The term ‘‘transi-8
tion period’’ means the period beginning on the ef-9
fective date and ending on the later of— 10
(A) the date that is 1 year after the effec-11
tive date; or 12
(B) the date that is 180 days after the 13
date described in subparagraph (A), which may 14
be extended by the Attorney General once for 15
an additional 180 days, if the Attorney General 16
determines that a period longer than the period 17
described in subparagraph (A) is necessary to 18
avoid harm to the interests of the United States 19
or the effective enforcement of the antitrust 20
laws. 21
SEC. 4. TRANSFER OF ANTITRUST ENFORCEMENT FUNC-22
TIONS FROM THE FTC TO THE ATTORNEY 23
GENERAL. 24
(a) T
RANSFER OFACTIONS.— 25
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(1) IN GENERAL.—There shall be transferred to 1
the Attorney General all FTC antitrust actions, 2
FTC antitrust employees, FTC antitrust assets, and 3
FTC antitrust funding on the earlier of— 4
(A) the date determined by the Attorney 5
General under paragraph (2)(B); or 6
(B) the end of the transition period. 7
(2) R
EQUIREMENT.—The Attorney General, 8
taking care to minimize disruption to ongoing en-9
forcement matters and in consultation as necessary 10
with the Office of Personnel Management, the Gen-11
eral Services Administration, and the Chairman of 12
the FTC, shall— 13
(A) take all necessary actions to complete 14
implementation of this Act before the end of the 15
transition period; and 16
(B) determine the dates certain, which 17
may not be earlier than the effective date or 18
later than the end of the transition period, on 19
which the transfers under paragraph (1) shall 20
occur. 21
(3) P
ERSONNEL.— 22
(A) A
SSIGNMENT.—An FTC antitrust em-23
ployee transferred to the Attorney General 24
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under this Act shall be assigned to the Anti-1
trust Division of the Department of Justice. 2
(B) O
FFICE SPACE.—On the request of the 3
Attorney General, and in consultation as nec-4
essary with the General Services Administra-5
tion, the FTC shall allow the Attorney General 6
to use any office space or leased facilities pre-7
viously used by FTC antitrust employees until 8
such time as the Attorney General may provide 9
office space or facilities. After the transfer of 10
FTC antitrust funding to the Attorney General, 11
the Attorney General shall compensate the FTC 12
for the costs of the use of such office space or 13
leased facilities. 14
(C) R
ESTRUCTURING.—Notwithstanding 15
any other provision of law, the Attorney Gen-16
eral is authorized to restructure the Antitrust 17
Division of the Department of Justice before 18
the expiration of the transition period, as the 19
Attorney General determines is appropriate, to 20
carry out the purposes of this Act and accom-21
plish the efficient enforcement of the antitrust 22
laws. 23
(4) A
NTITRUST ACTIONS.— 24
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(A) IN GENERAL.—As soon as is reason-1
ably practicable during the transition period, all 2
open investigations, studies, litigations, matters, 3
or other proceedings being supervised by an 4
FTC antitrust unit and relating to the antitrust 5
laws or unfair methods of competition under 6
section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act 7
(15 U.S.C. 45), as in effect on the day before 8
the effective date, shall be transferred to and 9
assumed by the Attorney General. 10
(B) H
ANDLING OF ADMINISTRATIVE AC -11
TIONS.—FTC antitrust actions that were initi-12
ated by the FTC and were unresolved as of the 13
first day of the transition period, shall be— 14
(i) continued as the Attorney General 15
determines is appropriate; and 16
(ii) the FTC shall have the power to 17
deputize former FTC antitrust employees, 18
with the consent of the Attorney General, 19
to continue any FTC antitrust actions as 20
described in clause (i). 21
(C) I
NTERVENTION.—Any FTC antitrust 22
actions before a court of the United States as 23
of the first day of the transition period, that 24
were initiated by the FTC and were unresolved 25
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as of the first day of the transition period, shall 1
be— 2
(i) continued as the Attorney General 3
determines is appropriate; and 4
(ii) that the FTC shall have the power 5
to deputize former FTC antitrust employ-6
ees, with the consent of the Attorney Gen-7
eral, to continue any FTC antitrust actions 8
as described in clause (i). 9
(D) C
ONSENT DECREES.— 10
(i) I
N GENERAL.—At the end of the 11
transition period, the Attorney General 12
shall have sole authority to receive all re-13
ports as required under, enforce violations 14
of, approve modifications to, or rescind any 15
consent decree entered into by the FTC 16
before the effective date that concerns con-17
duct alleged to violate the antitrust laws or 18
unfair methods of competition under sec-19
tion 5 of the Federal Trade Commission 20
Act (15 U.S.C. 45), as in effect on the day 21
before the effective date. 22
(ii) A
DMINISTRATIVE ENFORCE -23
MENT.—If deemed necessary by the FTC 24
and the Attorney General, the FTC shall 25
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have the power to deputize former FTC 1
antitrust employees, with the consent of 2
the Attorney General, to enforce and nego-3
tiate modifications of FTC consent decrees 4
in effect on the day before the effective 5
date in the FTC’s administrative process. 6
(5) A
UTHORITY TO CONDUCT INVESTIGATIVE 7
STUDIES.— 8
(A) R
EPORTS OF PERSONS , PARTNER-9
SHIPS, AND CORPORATIONS.— 10
(i) I
N GENERAL.—The Attorney Gen-11
eral may require, by general or special or-12
ders, persons, partnerships, and corpora-13
tions, engaged in or whose business affects 14
commerce to file with the Attorney General 15
in such form as the Attorney General may 16
prescribe annual or special reports or an-17
swers in writing to specific questions, fur-18
nishing to the Attorney General such infor-19
mation as the Attorney General may re-20
quire as to the organization, business, con-21
duct, practices, management, and relation 22
to other corporations, partnerships, and in-23
dividuals of the respective persons, part-24
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nerships, and corporations filing such re-1
ports or answers in writing. 2
(ii) O
ATH.—Reports and answers re-3
quired under clause (i) shall— 4
(I) be made under oath or other-5
wise as the Attorney General may pre-6
scribe; 7
(II) pertain solely to competition 8
or the application of the antitrust 9
laws; and 10
(III) be filed with the Attorney 11
General within such reasonable period 12
as the Attorney General may pre-13
scribe, unless additional time be 14
granted in any case by the Attorney 15
General. 16
(B) P
UBLICATION OF INFORMATION OR 17
REPORTS.— 18
(i) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided 19
in clause (ii), the Attorney General— 20
(I) shall make public from time 21
to time such portions of the informa-22
tion obtained by the Attorney General 23
under this paragraph as are in the 24
public interest; 25
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(II) may make annual and spe-1
cial reports to Congress that include 2
recommendations for additional legis-3
lation; and 4
(III) shall provide for the publi-5
cation of reports and decisions of the 6
Attorney General in such form and 7
manner as may be best adapted for 8
public information and use. 9
(ii) P
ROHIBITION AGAINST PUBLICA -10
TION OF PRIVILEGED OR CONFIDENTIAL 11
INFORMATION.— 12
(I) I
N GENERAL.—Except as pro-13
vided in subclause (II), the Attorney 14
General shall not make public any 15
trade secret or any commercial or fi-16
nancial information that is obtained 17
from any person and that is privileged 18
or confidential. 19
(II) E
XCEPTION.—The Attorney 20
General may disclose information de-21
scribed in subclause (I) to— 22
(aa) officers and employees 23
of appropriate Federal law en-24
forcement agencies or to any offi-25
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cer or employee of any State law 1
enforcement agency on the prior 2
certification of an officer of any 3
such Federal or State law en-4
forcement agency that such infor-5
mation will be maintained in con-6
fidence and will be used only for 7
official law enforcement purposes; 8
or 9
(bb) any officer or employee 10
of any foreign law enforcement 11
agency under the same cir-12
cumstances that making material 13
available to foreign law enforce-14
ment agencies is permitted under 15
section 21(b) of the Federal 16
Trade Commission Act (15 17
U.S.C. 57b–2(b)). 18
(6) B
ENEFIT OF ANTITRUST DIVISION .—All 19
FTC antitrust assets and FTC antitrust funding 20
transferred under this subsection shall be for the ex-21
clusive use and benefit of the Antitrust Division of 22
the Department of Justice, except to the extent the 23
FTC deputizes former FTC antitrust employees, 24
with the consent of the Attorney General, to con-25
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tinue any FTC antitrust actions that are ongoing 1
and unresolved before the effective date. 2
(b) T
RANSITIONPERIOD.— 3
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-4
graph (2), beginning on the effective date, the FTC 5
may not— 6
(A) hire or assign an employee to an FTC 7
antitrust unit; 8
(B) open a new investigation or matter 9
within an FTC antitrust unit or relating to the 10
antitrust laws or unfair methods of competition 11
under section 5 of the Federal Trade Commis-12
sion Act; 13
(C) without the approval of the Attorney 14
General, enter into a consent decree, enter into 15
a settlement agreement, or otherwise resolve an 16
FTC antitrust action; or 17
(D) initiate a new FTC antitrust action. 18
(2) E
NFORCEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE ATTOR -19
NEY GENERAL .—Notwithstanding paragraph (1), 20
during the transition period, the Attorney General 21
may deputize an FTC antitrust employee to inves-22
tigate or prosecute an alleged violation of the anti-23
trust laws on behalf of the Attorney General before 24
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the completion of the transfer of personnel under 1
subsection (a). 2
(3) S
AME RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS .— 3
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 4
other provision of law, during the transition pe-5
riod all Department of Justice employees under 6
the supervision of the Attorney General shall 7
have the same rights and obligations with re-8
spect to confidential information submitted to 9
the FTC as FTC antitrust employees on the 10
day before the effective date. 11
(B) R
ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—Nothing in 12
this paragraph may be construed as implying 13
any change to the rights and obligations de-14
scribed in subparagraph (A) as a result of this 15
Act. 16
(c) A
GREEMENTS.—The Attorney General, in con-17
sultation with the Chairman of the FTC, shall— 18
(1) review any agreements between the FTC 19
and any other Federal agency or any foreign law en-20
forcement agency; and 21
(2) before the end of the transition period, seek 22
to amend, transfer, or rescind such agreements as 23
necessary and appropriate to carry out this Act, en-24
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deavoring to complete such amendment, transfer, or 1
rescindment with all due haste. 2
(d) R
ULES.—The Attorney General shall, pursuant 3
to section 7A of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 18a) and in 4
accordance with section 553 of title 5, United States Code, 5
prescribe or amend any rules as necessary to carry out 6
the Clayton Act. 7
SEC. 5. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 8
(a) R
EQUIREMENTS TOCONSULTWITH ORSEEK 9
THECONCURRENCE.—For any provision of law requiring 10
an executive branch agency or independent agency to con-11
sult with or seek the concurrence of the FTC or the Chair-12
man of the FTC, where such requirement relates to the 13
antitrust laws or unfair methods of competition under sec-14
tion 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 15
45), as in effect on the day before the effective date, that 16
requirement shall be transferred from the FTC or the 17
Chairman of the FTC to the Attorney General. 18
(b) P
REMERGERNOTIFICATIONFILINGS.— 19
(1) FTC
PREMERGER NOTIFICATION FIL -20
INGS.—For any provision of law requiring notifica-21
tion to the FTC, where such requirement relates to 22
the antitrust laws or unfair methods of competition 23
under section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission 24
Act (15 U.S.C. 45), as in effect on the day before 25
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the effective date, that requirement for notification 1
to the FTC shall be waived. 2
(2) D
EPARTMENT OF JUSTICE PREMERGER NO -3
TIFICATION FILINGS.—Nothing in paragraph (b) 4
may be construed as implying any change to the re-5
quirement for any required notification to the Attor-6
ney General. 7
(c) E
XISTINGLITIGATION ORAPPEALS.—Notwith-8
standing any other provision of law, the Attorney General 9
shall not deny resources to the FTC or otherwise disrupt 10
existing litigation or appeals that are ongoing on the day 11
before the effective date. 12
(d) F
UTUREACTIONS OFATTORNEYGENERAL.— 13
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, nothing in 14
this Act may be construed to limit the powers of the Attor-15
ney General to enforce the antitrust laws. 16
(e) F
UTUREACTIONS OF THE FTC.—Notwith-17
standing any other provision of law, the FTC shall not 18
open new investigations or begin enforcement actions that 19
relates to the antitrust laws or unfair methods of competi-20
tion under section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act 21
(15 U.S.C. 45), except as explicitly allowed in this Act 22
with the approval of the Attorney General and relating 23
to an investigation, litigation, appeal, or consent decree 24
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that was ongoing or in place on the day before the effective 1
date. 2
SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 3
Except as provided otherwise, this Act shall take ef-4
fect on the start of the first fiscal year that is at least 5
90 days after the date of enactment of this Act. 6
Æ
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