Democrat’s chief of staff on the antitrust
The assistant to the newly appointed top Democrat on the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee lobbied on behalf of Amazon.
Apple is another.
Based on publicly available information, CNBC discovered that as recently as 2022, including on the very issues the ranking member’s new position will oversee.
Progressives who supported efforts to change the rules of the road around digital competition are likely to become even more irate given the background of California Democrat Lou Correa’s top staffer. According to the website LegiStorm, which tracks legislation in Congress, René Muoz has been Correa’s chief of staff since November 2022.
According to LinkedIn, Muoz worked at the lobbying firm Federal Street Strategies before that, starting in May 2020, where his clients included companies like Amazon and Apple. Previously, he was employed by other Democratic members of Congress.
As a member of the majority party in 2019, Rhode Island Democratic Rep. The competition policies of Amazon, Apple, and Google were the subject of a thorough investigation led by David Cicilline.
as well as Facebook. and brought their CEOs before the Congress. To limit their influence, he introduced a number of bills. Correa voted against the bill.
Republican from Colorado, Ken Buck. , who later rose to become the subcommittee’s top Republican, was a crucial ally of Cicilline’s in promoting the antitrust legislation for the technology industry. But after the Republicans took over the House, Buck lost out to the libertarian Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky. to serve as the committee’s chairperson.
The tech sector will likely applaud the shift from antitrust reform proponents like Cicilline and Buck as a respite from years of fighting against bills they saw as being overly broad or having unwarranted implications for consumer privacy.
Maria Langholz, the director of communications for Demand Progress, described Correa’s appointment to the position as “a profound disappointment” in a statement following the announcement of his selection. She cited Correa’s opposition to a package of tech antitrust bills supported by Cicilline, who recently left Congress and vacated the position, as the reason.
“It is embarrassing that House Democrats have not stepped up to fill the void that Rep. Cicilline’s resignation from the subcommittee,” the representative of the progressive advocacy group continued.
In a statement to CNBC that Muoz received a copy of, a Correa spokesperson stated, “The Congressman’s Chief of Staff has spent nearly two decades in public service, the majority of which was spent in the halls of Congress.”.
“He has worked tirelessly to support elected officials from all over the nation in their efforts to better the lives of working families and lift up their constituents. Congressman Correa brought him onto his team to work by his side in his fight for the hard-working taxpayers he represents right here in Orange County because of that unwavering commitment and history of service, according to the statement.
what Muoz lobbied for.
According to information made public, Muoz lobbied Congress on the exact topics that Correa is now in charge of as recently as 2022.
While in the minority, Correa’s ability to shape the agenda is somewhat limited, ranking members frequently play a crucial role in opposing the majority or communicating with the business community and government agencies. Some worry that it will be more difficult to elect a more reform-minded Democrat to replace Correa if the Democrats win back the House.
The disclosures make no mention of the particular bills on which Muoz lobbied. While Cicilline chaired the antitrust subcommittee, he is listed as one of three lobbyists for Federal Street Strategies who worked on issues related to several of the bills that passed through the House Judiciary Committee.
For instance, Muoz is listed as one of three lobbyists who worked with Congress on behalf of Apple in the second and third quarters of 2021 on issues related to the six bills that made up Cicilline’s cornerstone package on tech antitrust. That includes the time frame immediately following the June 2021 House Judiciary Committee vote on that package.
According to Federal Street’s lobbying disclosures, Muoz was one of three lobbyists who worked for Amazon during the same time period on issues related to those bills.
One of the bills in the package was the Ending Platform Monopolies Act, which by forbidding them from owning business lines that present a conflict of interest, could result in the dissolution of powerful online platforms.
They also included the American Choice and Innovation Online Act, which would forbid leading platforms from favoring their own products over those of rivals in their marketplaces or treating rivals unfairly. It served as a model for a Senate version of the legislation, which gained traction last year after being approved by the chamber’s Judiciary committee. However, despite vigorous lobbying from the tech industry, it ultimately was not approved.
Once more, it’s unclear from the filing which specific bills Muoz lobbied on.
The tech sector and its trade associations have poured millions of dollars into lobbying, including against antitrust legislation that would limit important components of their business models. At $9.4 million in 2022, a 44 percent increase from the previous year, Apple significantly increased its overall lobbying spending. According to its fourth-quarter filing, it lobbied on antitrust legislation as well as issues related to taxes, online privacy, semiconductor policy, and other topics.
Amazon spent $19.7 million in 2022, the most of the major tech players. Along with cloud computing and counterfeit goods, the e-commerce behemoth also lobbied on antitrust issues in the technology sector.
WATCH: Here’s how the lobbying industry works
