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• SLATER OUSTER SIGNALS ONGOING DOJ CORRUPTION. Today, DOJ Antitrust AAG Gail Slater resigned from her position, likely because of ongoing tensions over the agency’s enforcement agenda with AG Pam Bondi and the White House, including her former boss, Vice President J.D. Vance, over the department’s enforcement agenda. Specifically, Slater disagreed with the HPE-Juniper settlement and possibly a forthcoming settlement with Live Nation-Ticketmaster ahead of the March 2nd trial. After Slater’s firing, Live-Nation Ticketmaster stock surged. Check out Economic Liberties statement on the matter.
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• IF A NEW FTC COMMISH FALLS IN A FORREST… Typically, five bipartisan commissioners comprise the FTC. Last year, President Trump attempted to fire two Democratic commissioners, leaving three Republicans to run the agency. One, Melissa Holyoak, left at the end of last year to become a U.S. Attorney for Utah. In January, Trump nominated billionaire David MacNeil to replace her, pending Senate confirmation. MacNeil is the founder and CEO of vehicle accessories manufacturer WeatherTech. It is unknown whether Mr. MacNeil has any positions or experience on antitrust enforcement or consumer protection issues.

Housing

• INSTITUTIONAL HOUSING INVESTORS ON NOTICE? Over the last two decades, single family home construction has declined precipitously, increasing prices, and making it harder for families to buy homes. But institutional investors like Blackstone with extensive capital have increased their share of the market during this time period, now owning over 20% of all homes nationally and a higher concentration in certain cities like Atlanta. In January, President Trump issued an Executive Order claiming to ban large institutional investors from buying more single family homes, and urged Congress to codify the directive. Neither the EO nor its corresponding legislation, the “Housing for the 21st Century Act,” which recently passed the House, however would require investors to divest their current holdings. The EO also includes an exemption for institutional investors to build homes explicitly to rent them, so it’s unlikely either will meaningfully lower housing costs.
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• DOJ EMBRACES CORRUPTION & GLOBAL REAL ESTATE BEHEMOTHS? Last fall, Compass, the largest U.S. real estate brokerage firm by sales volume, announced its intent to merge with Anywhere Real Estate, a global brokerage firm that includes brands like Coldwell Banker and Sotheby’s International. The combined company would include a network of 340,00 real estate agents, and likely push smaller brokerage firms out of business. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) wrote to the DOJ in December, raising concerns the merger could lead to higher broker fees and limit access to home listings. The Wall Street Journal reported that while DOJ Antitrust wanted to investigate the potential anticompetitive effects of creating the largest brokerage firm in the world, Compass hired Trump-aligned lobbyist Mike Davis to get Deputy AG Todd Blanche to greenlight the deal last month, closing nine months earlier than even Compass anticipated. Mike Davis also pushed through the Hewlett Packard Enterprise-Juniper Networks deal, which a federal district court is currently reviewing as a potential violation of the Tunney Act.

Prices

• FEDERAL FIGHT AGAINST UTILITY PRICES GAINS STEAM. Nearly 80 million Americans struggle to pay their utility bills, and average utility prices are up 30% since 2020. Meanwhile, utilities requested a record $31 billion in rate hikes in 2025. Though often considered a state issue, more federal lawmakers are beginning to take action on utilities. Congressman Josh Riley (D-NY-19) and 12 other House Democrats launched the Lowering Utility Bills Caucus. One member, Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-NH-02,) has already pushed her state utility commission to consider the New Hampshire Office of Consumer Advocate’s appeal of a recent rate case decision. And Rep. Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14) recently questioned a FERC commissioner about transmission costs.  Check out Economic Liberties’ brief on other ways members can lower constituent utility bills.
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• INSTACART <3 SURVEILLANCE PRICING. In early 2025, Lina Khan’s FTC released a study revealing how companies use surveillance pricing – tracking users’ personal data to set individualized, and often higher, prices. In December, a Consumer Reports and Groundwork Collaborative investigation revealed Instacart used an AI based pricing tool, Eversight, to engage in the practice and charge consumers different prices for the same products from the same stores. In response, several members of Congress demanded information from Instacart, and the Trump FTC opened an investigation into Instacart’s pricing practices. Instacart now claims to have paused its practice, but House Oversight Committee Democrats promised to continue investigating. Separately, members of Congress are pursuing aggressive legislative solutions. For example, Sen. Gallego (D-AZ) introduced the “One Fair Price Act,” which builds off  Rep. Casar’s (D-TX-35) “Stop AI Price Gouging and Wage Fixing Act.” Both bills would ban surveillance pricing altogether.

Improving Health Care

• MOVES TOWARDS BIG MEDICINE BREAK UP. Last year, Economic Liberties launched the Break Up Big Medicine initiative to highlight how the corporatization of healthcare was driving up costs and decreasing quality of care. The effort pushed for a “Glass-Steagall for healthcare” to structurally separate the industry and eliminate conflicts of interests. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14) recently confronted the CVS CEO about these dangers of consolidation. And now, bipartisan senators are heeding the call as well. Sen. Warren (D-MA) and Hawley (R-MO) introduced the Break Up Big Medicine Act. Former healthcare executive Wendall Potter and billionaire Mark Cuban encouraged the bill’s passage. Read more on why from Economic Liberties Senior Healthcare Analyst Emma Freer.
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• ELDERLY & TAXPAYERS IN UNITED HEALTH’S CROSSHAIRS. UnitedHealth Group (UHG) is the largest health insurer in the U.S., and, specifically, the largest Medicare Advantage (MA) provider to people over 65. UHG also owns various nursing and hospice care facilities. Their practices in these markets have faced scrutiny. Last year, following The Guardian reporting that UHG paid bonuses to their nursing home executives who kept residents in UHG facilities even when they needed emergency hospital transfers, the Senate Finance Committee launched an inquiry into the practice. In January, Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) sent a follow-up, accusing UHG of refusing to hand over key internal documents. Separately, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released a report last month explaining how UHG exaggerates patients’ risk adjustments to rip off taxpayers and receive billions in MA over payments. The administration may have taken note with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announcing they would not increase MA insurer reimbursement rates, going against Wall Street’s expectations. Check out Economic Liberties UHG abuse tracker for more info.
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• PBMs TAKE THE HEAT. The three largest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) oversee 80% of all prescriptions in the U.S., and contribute to a fifth of all health care costs, but Washington has been fighting back. In 2024, the FTC filed a lawsuit against the Big Three PBMs and their insurance company parent companies – CVS Health (Caremark), Cigna (Express Scripts), and UnitedHealth Group (OptumRx) – for inflating insulin prices. The Trump FTC just settled the lawsuit against Express Scripts, which barely impacted their stock price, suggesting the terms will not meaningfully change their business practices. Separately, Congress enacted the PBM Reform Act sponsored by Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA-01.) The reform will increase cost transparency, standardize payments in Medicare Part D, and improve patient access to local pharmacies, a move the National Community Pharmacists Association applauded.
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• IS UNITED HEALTH A BANK? Since the early 2000s, United Health Group (UHG) has owned an industrial loan company (ILC), which operates outside traditional banking regulation but allows for a range of financial activity. For example, UHG used the ILC to provide consumer health savings accounts, eventually morphing into the Optum Financial entity. After the 2022 acquisition of Change Healthcare, Optum Financial began offering riskier loans to providers. The 2024 ransomware attack on Change demonstrated the risks of this integration. After exposing the data of more than 190 million people and costing pharmacists, physicians practices, and other healthcare businesses between $500 million and $1 billion per day, Optum extended emergency loans to impacted providers and threatened to withhold claims payments – via its insurer subsidiary UnitedHealthcare – if those loans weren’t repaid.  Read Economic Liberties’ brief for more on the harms of this vertical bankification, and what Congress can do to address the issue.

Reining in Big Tech 

• FTC WANTS META TO BREAK UP. A 2020 lawsuit filed by the FTC during the first Trump Administration alleged that Meta, owner of Facebook, controlled on average 70% of the personal social networking market and acquired both Instagram and WhatsApp to protect its monopoly. The Biden FTC continued the case, and last year, a federal judge ruled against the FTC, claiming companies like YouTube and TikTok meaningfully compete with Meta. Given the limited enforcement from this administration’s FTC, it wasn’t clear how they would respond. But in January, Trump’s FTC filed to appeal the court’s decision, noting that the original acquisitions were illegal. Sen. Klobuchar (D-MN) praised the move.
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• DOJ WANTS GOOGLE BACK IN COURT. In 2024, a federal judge ruled Google, which controls 90% of the online search market, was a monopolist and illegally blocked competition. Last year, the court ordered remedies that many considered insufficient to stop Google’s illegal conduct and restore competition to the search market. In November, Economic Liberties urged state AGs to appeal the Google search remedy. Earlier this month, the Department of Justice and state AGs did just that, appealing the remedy decision, which could allow antitrust enforcers to push for structural remedies, such as the divestiture of Chrome. Google’s appeal of the initial liability ruling is pending.

Trade

• Advanced AI chips sales to China raise bipartisan concerns. Last year, President Trump approved sales of Nvidia’s second-most advanced, “H200” artificial intelligence (AI) microchips to China. The move was a reversal from tighter U.S. chip export controls on China that Trump began during his first term and Biden continued. The H200 deal came after Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, agreed to pay 25% of Chinese sales revenue to the U.S. government. In response, House Foreign Affairs Chair Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL-21) advanced his bipartisan AI Overwatch Act, which requires congressional review of chip exports to “countries of concern,” including China. On January 21, the full committee overwhelmingly approved the bill. The Chinese government was initially blocking H200 imports after the Trump administration lifted the export controls to protect the market for competing high-function AI chips being developed in China, but just granted approval in late January to ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent to purchase 400,000 of Nvidia’s H200 chips.
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• Canada-China deal complicates the USMCA. A July 1, 2026, deadline is approaching for a mandatory review of the 2020 U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the trade deal Trump negotiated in his first term to replace NAFTA. U.S. trade officials have begun meeting with Canadian and Mexican counterparts to discuss terms for extending the agreement. Parts of a preliminary USMCA plan shared by Trump’s U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer overlap with demands by many unions and Democratic members of Congress to renegotiate USMCA terms to build stronger North American manufacturing supply chains by requiring higher common U.S.-Mexico-Canada tariffs in strategic sectors and stronger ‘rules of origin’ to limit Chinese parts and goods that obtain USMCA tariff-free treatment. Recent actions by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney towards China raise uncertainty about USMCA negotiations. Specifically, Carney rolled back Canada’s 100% penalty tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) imposed in coordination with the U. S., and announced a plan to attract Chinese investment within Canada to produce Chinese EVs, It remains to be seen whether PM Carney’s agreement with China is a bargaining chip to trade away in trilateral talks or a lasting change in Canadian policy that could sideline the USMCA.

Media 

• WARNER BROS. WANTS A BAD ROMANCE. It was a bumpy ride in the Senate for the proposed Netflix-Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) merger last week as members of the Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Subcommittee grilled Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos on concerns the merger would eliminate competition, lead to higher prices and kill movie theaters. Netflix/WBD merger also faced bipartisan skepticism at a January House Judiciary Committee Antitrust Subcommittee hearing on the streaming market; Becca Balint (D-VT-At Large) noted that giant mergers are almost always bad for consumers. In addition to lawmakers, movie theater owners are also sounding the alarm that the deal could kill main street movie theater businesses. Meanwhile, Paramount is suing WBD for choosing the Netflix deal over Paramount’s bid, and DOJ has started a review of both offers. This week, Paramount enhanced its offer by committing, in part, to paying WBD’s breakup fee with Netflix. Activist investor Ancora Holdings, which has a $200M stake in WBD, has pushed WBD to reopen merger negotiations with Paramount. Economic Liberties, public interest advocates, and film industry stakeholders urged state attorneys general to block any deal, and also joined the Block The Merger coalition.
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• LOCAL TV NEWS IN THE BALANCE. Nexstar’s proposed acquisition of Tegna would give Nexstar control of 265 local broadcast television stations nationwide. The combination would give Nexstar the capability to reach 80% of all U.S. households – double the statutory limit set by Congress – and solidify Nexstar’s position as the largest owner of local television stations. Though DOJ has review authority, closing the deal requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to override the 2004 Consolidated Appropriations Act, which prohibited a single company from owning local TV broadcast stations that cumulatively reach more than 39% of U.S. households. Former Republican FCC Commissioner Michael O’Reilly stated it is a “fantasy” that the FCC can raise the ownership cap without Congress. Late last year, 40 House Republicans discouraged the FCC from changing the cap, and a group of 6 Democratic Senators and Representatives raised concerns about Nexstar/Tegna. At a Senate Commerce Committee this week, Newsmax CEO, Chris Ruddy, warned he would sue the FCC over such a change. President Trump, however, posted his support for the transaction on social media, and FCC Chair Brendan Carr affirmed the sentiment. In response, Democrats, Sen. Michael Bennett (D-CO) and Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO-02) issued a statement saying the deal is illegal, and House Energy & Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ-06) sent a letter ripping Chair Carr for considering a lift of the ownership cap.

Merger Mix

• DOJ GHOSTING ON TICKETMASTER BREAKUP? Live Nation-Ticketmaster controls ticketing for 80% of major concert venues, locking in artists and venues, and driving up costs. In 2024, Jonathan Kanter’s DOJ sued to break up the monopoly. Trump’s DOJ successfully survived a motion to dismiss and trial is set to begin on March 2nd. At a Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection hearing in January, Kid Rock also called for a breakup. Now, rumors are swirling that Live Nation is lobbying for a sweetheart settlement, and once again, political officials at DOJ appear ready to cut a deal. Check out the op-ed from Joel Thayer at Digital Progress Next on why a break is consistent with the president’s affordability agenda.
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• RAIL MERGER OPPOSITION GROWS. The proposed Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern merger would create the first transcontinental rail line, and the Surface Transportation Board (STB) has review authority over the transaction. The STB’s merger rules, adopted during the George W. Bush Administration, require that major rail mergers actively enhance competition, which many question is possible with this deal. Specifically, the Congressional Monopoly Busters Caucus has highlighted potential harms to labor, and ten state Secretaries of Agriculture also raised concerns. And earlier this month, Rep. Johnson (R-SD) led a letter with 47 House Republicans urging the STB to reject the merger if the railroads don’t “demonstrate clear, measurable, and substantial benefits for domestic manufacturers, agricultural producers, the energy sector, and the American consumer.” Last month, the STB rejected Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern’s merger application for being incomplete, but the parties have until February 17 to tell STB if they will revise the application.

Airlines

• PRIVATE JET SUPER BOWL DINE-AND-DASH. Before and after last weekend’s Super Bowl LX, Bay Area airports in San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose saw massive spikes in private flights, as hundreds of private jets clogged up tarmacs, delaying takeoff and landing for commercial travelers. But private jet travel isn’t just a problem at special events. Generally, private jets account for 7% of flights overseen by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), but only 0.6% of taxes paid to fund the FAA. Private jet ownership is partly on the rise because the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” included a permanent 100% tax depreciation on private jets. Check out Economic Liberties brief on the implications of private jet owners not paying their fair share, and what Congress can do about it.

ICYMI

• Economic Liberties Executive Director Nidhi Hegde joined Senators Schumer (D-NY), Warren (D-MA), and others for a roundtable discussion on how to make housing more affordable.
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• Sen. Blackburn (R-TN) is pressing CVS and its PBM about how it abuses its consolidation to drive up prices for consumers.
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• President Trump is considering banning defense contractors from issuing dividends and stock buybacks.
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• FTC sent a warning letter to 13 property managers for using rental price fixing software.
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• DOT Sec. Sean Duffy plans to use A.I. to draft regulations as he rolls back dozens of passenger protection laws.
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• Check out former DOJ Antitrust AG Jonathan Kanter’s op-ed on the state of Big Tech lawsuits.
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• Amazon customers in a class action lawsuit sustained an attempted dismissal of a lawsuit alleging Amazon engaged in price gouging during the pandemic.