II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1937 

To promote merger enforcement and protect competition through adjusting 

premerger filing fees, and increasing antitrust enforcement resources. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 20, 2019 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself and Mr. GRASSLEY) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To promote merger enforcement and protect competition 

through adjusting premerger filing fees, and increasing 

antitrust enforcement resources. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Merger Filing Fee 

5 Modernization Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PREMERGER NOTIFICATION FILING FEES. 

7 Section 605 of Public Law 101–162 (15 U.S.C. 18a 

8 note) is amended— 

9 (1) in subsection (b)— 

10 (A) in paragraph (1)— 


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•S 1937 IS

1 (i) by striking ‘‘$45,000’’ and insert2 ing ‘‘$30,000’’; 

3 (ii) by striking ‘‘$100,000,000’’ and 

4 inserting ‘‘$161,500,000’’; 

5 (iii) by striking ‘‘2004’’ and inserting 

6 ‘‘2020’’; and 

7 (iv) by striking ‘‘2003’’ and inserting 

8 ‘‘2019’’; 

9 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

10 (i) by striking ‘‘$125,000’’ and insert11 ing ‘‘$100,000’’; 

12 (ii) by striking ‘‘$100,000,000’’ and 

13 inserting ‘‘$161,500,000’’; 

14 (iii) by striking ‘‘but less’’ and insert15 ing ‘‘but is less’’; and 

16 (iv) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

17 (C) in paragraph (3)— 

18 (i) by striking ‘‘$280,000’’ and insert19 ing ‘‘$250,000’’; and 

20 (ii) by striking the period at the end 

21 and inserting ‘‘but is less than 

22 $1,000,000,000 (as so adjusted and pub23 lished);’’; and 

24 (D) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(4) $400,000 if the aggregate total amount 

2 determined under section 7A(a)(2) of the Clayton 

3 Act (15 U.S.C. 18a(a)(2)) is not less than 

4 $1,000,000,000 (as so adjusted and published) but 

5 is less than $2,000,000,000 (as so adjusted and 

6 published); 

7 ‘‘(5) $800,000 if the aggregate total amount 

8 determined under section 7A(a)(2) of the Clayton 

9 Act (15 U.S.C. 18a(a)(2)) is not less than 

10 $2,000,000,000 (as so adjusted and published) but 

11 is less than $5,000,000,000 (as so adjusted and 

12 published); and 

13 ‘‘(6) $2,250,000 if the aggregate total amount 

14 determined under section 7A(a)(2) of the Clayton 

15 Act (15 U.S.C. 18a(a)(2)) is not less than 

16 $5,000,000,000 (as so adjusted and published).’’; 

17 and 

18 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(c)(1) For each fiscal year commencing after Sep20 tember 30, 2020, the filing fees in this section shall be 

21 increased as of October 1 each year by an amount equal 

22 to the percentage increase, if any, in the Producer Price 

23 Index, as determined by the Department of Commerce or 

24 its successor, for the year then ended over the level so 

25 established for the year ending September 30, 2019. 


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1 ‘‘(2) As soon as practicable, but not later than Janu2 ary 31 of each year, the Federal Trade Commission shall 

3 publish the adjusted amounts required by this section. 

4 ‘‘(3) The Federal Trade Commission shall not adjust 

5 amounts required by this section if the percentage increase 

6 described in paragraph (1) is less than 1 percent. 

7 ‘‘(4) An amount adjusted under this section shall be 

8 rounded to the nearest multiple of $5,000.’’. 

9 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

10 There is authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 

11 2020— 

12 (1) $180,606,000 for the Antitrust Division of 

13 the Department of Justice; and 

14 (2) $342,000,000 for the Federal Trade Com15 mission. 

Æ 


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