WASHINGTON, DC — Today, more than 20 independent business organization members of the Small Business Rising coalition sent a letter to U.S House Judiciary Committee leadership in support of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Chair Lina Khan, who will testify in front of the committee on July 13th, 2023.
The full letter and business group statements can be viewed below and HERE.
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Dear Chair Jordan and Ranking Member Nadler:
The below undersigned organizations from Small Business Rising — a coalition of small business associations representing more than 250,000 independent businesses — write to express our support for Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan’s efforts to curb anticompetitive conduct in the United States.
As a coalition representing the interests of small and independent businesses across the country, we believe that the FTC’s work under Chair Khan's leadership has been crucial for fostering a fair and competitive marketplace and safeguarding the right of small and independent business to compete and serve the needs of their communities. We urge you to work collaboratively toward ensuring the FTC can freely pursue its mandate to safeguard fair, open markets through the effective enforcement of the antitrust laws.
America’s small businesses are the backbone of our local economies and communities — and, yet, every day we lose more independent businesses because of the abusive and anti-competitive tactics of monopolistic corporations. This is the top threat to our members.
After decades in which the antitrust agencies largely ignored the impediments facing small business, Chair Khan has set the agency on track to address urgent problems that block small businesses from competing, including price discrimination, self-dealing by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), and the outsized power of tech giants. Under her leadership, the FTC’s work and commitment to ensuring fair competition and protecting the rights of small businesses should be commended by supporters of small business across the political spectrum. It is crucial that we allow the agency to continue its work to ensure our antitrust laws are enforced as the FTC’s success in safeguarding competitive markets directly affects the livelihoods of countless small business owners and their employees.
Concentrated market power is the single biggest threat facing independent, small businesses. We respectfully request the House Judiciary Committee to continue prioritizing the FTC's role in protecting small businesses and consumers, and to support Chair Lina Khan's efforts to promote competition and address antitrust issues. By doing so, we can ensure a level playing field, foster innovation, and create a vibrant and fair marketplace that benefits small businesses and consumers alike.
Signed by:
Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding
American Booksellers Association
American Independent Business Alliance
American Specialty Toy Retailing Association
Cambridge Local First
Dane Buy Local
Independent Restaurant Coalition
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Local First Arizona
Local Return RI
Louisville Independent Business Alliance
Love Live Local, Inc
Lowcountry Local First
Main Street Alliance
National Grocers Association
North American Marine Alliance
People First Economy
Shop Local Raleigh
Southeast Michigan Sustainable Business Forum
Spokane Independent Metro Business Alliance
Workplace Solutions Association
Partner Statements
“Ensuring a level playing field for independent operators is essential to maintaining real competition and consumer choice. Chair Khan’s efforts are an important step toward a fairer marketplace that supports Main Street businesses and communities.”
— Greg Ferrara, President and CEO, National Grocers Association
As the not-for-profit trade association representing independent bookstores across the country, the American Booksellers Association could not be more supportive of the work that Lina Khan has been doing with the FTC. For far too long, behemoths like Amazon have been able to flout antitrust laws to grow their power at the expense of small businesses everywhere. This investigation is just another example of Big Tech’s power – that when small businesses finally have a champion that fights for them, they come under fire.
— Allison K Hill, CEO, American Booksellers Association
“Main Street Alliance applauds the ongoing efforts of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan’s combat against monopolist and anti-competitive practices in our nation. Since the 1980s free market proponents have advanced an economy that is harmful to small businesses. They have lobbied for policies that enable monopolies and stifle competition hindering entrepreneurs from launching businesses in their communities that grow, sustain good jobs, and create generational wealth. Now more than ever the small business community must stand with Chair Khan as she advocates for policies like banning non-compete clauses, tightening merger guidelines, and reigning in Amazon’s monopoly power to create a more equitable economy for true small business owners.”
— Chanda Causer, Executive Director, Main Street Alliance
“Vibrant, local businesses are essential to a sustainable economy, one that is diverse and resilient. Monopolistic power undermines resilient economies, and that’s a lesson we learned nearly 100 years ago. With Reaganomics, we chose to forget those lessons. Under Chair Kahn’s leadership, the FTC is finally doing its job of putting into practice what we know. We need the Judiciary Committee’s support in continuing to prioritize the FTC’s work.”
— Mike Shesterkin, Executive Director, Southeast Michigan Sustainable Business Forum
About Small Business Rising
Small Business Rising, a coalition of nearly 40 organizations representing more than 250,000 independent businesses, formed in 2021 to urge policymakers to rein in monopoly power and inject fairness into a system that has long left small businesses at a competitive disadvantage. The Hill described the coalition as "playing a pivotal role in high-profile debates over antitrust," and helping "sway lawmakers to advance legislation to break up the largest tech companies through the House Judiciary Committee.”
Together, members of the coalition and small business voices have calling for Congress to stop tech monopolies, like Amazon, from cornering the online market by breaking them up and regulating them, for states to pass robust antitrust laws, and for Federal regulators to use their enforcement authorities to block dominant corporations from engaging in abusive tactics. For media inquiries, please email media[at]smallbusinessrising[dot]net.