Digital rights group asks Jeffries to remove Correa from antitrust committee leadership

Digital rights group Fight for the Future asked House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) to remove Rep. Lou Correa (D-Calif.) from his position as ranking member of the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, according to a letter exclusively shared with The Hill.

The group said Correa should be removed from the position for being “openly hostile to [antitrust] reform efforts” and “far out of line with the majority of the Democratic caucus” and President Biden’s “goal of curbing anticompetitive behavior by wealthy corporations.”

“While we appreciate Rep. Correa’s leadership in other areas, like protecting abortion rights, his tenure as ranking member of the antitrust committee has unfortunately been grossly out of step with important priorities,” Fight for the Future wrote in the letter sent Friday.

Correa took the reins as ranking member of the committee in June after then-Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), who led the push to reform antitrust bills in the House to target tech giants, resigned from the House.

Fight for the Future’s letter to Jeffries is the latest push from progressives attacking Correa over his record of not supporting antitrust reform efforts.

Correa was among the California Democrats to vote against advancing bipartisan antitrust reform bills in June 2021 out of the House Judiciary Committee.

In addition to his past opposition, Fight for the Future noted action that Correa has taken since he took charge as ranking member that the group said is part of the lawmaker’s “hostility to efforts to rein in corporate abuses.”

For example, the group knocked Correa over having “parroted talking points from the Chamber of Commerce and other Big Tech affiliated groups in criticizing” the Biden administration and European Union’s antitrust efforts during a House Judiciary Committee hearing in September, featuring Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Fight for the Future also noted that Correa “sharply criticized” Department of Justice Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter and Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan over their proposed merger guidelines.

“Months into his tenure as ranking member, it’s clear that Correa’s hostility toward antitrust enforcement and the Biden Administration’s competition agenda remains strong,” Fight for the Future wrote.

“Accordingly, we urge you to remove Correa from subcommittee leadership as soon as practical and replace him with someone who will support your caucus’s and the President’s competition agenda,” the group added.

In response to the push to have him removed, a Correa spokesperson said in a statement, “Ranking Member Correa ascended to his role atop of the Subcommittee on Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust with the unanimous support of his Democratic colleagues on the House Judiciary Committee—and is incredibly proud to have the support of both Ranking Member [Jerry] Nadler [D-N.Y.] and Democratic Leader Jeffries.”

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