Message from Congressman Scott Fitzgerald

Good morning, everyone, and happy Monday!

I’d like to kick off this week’s eNewsletter with a district highlight on my recent visit to Strohwig Industries in Richfield, WI.

Strohwig Industries was founded in 1978 by Wolfgang Strohwig and Larry Glass originally as WG Strohwig Tool & Die, a small tool and die shop in Polk, WI. Since 1978, the company has expanded to a 210,000 square foot machining facility that employs 180 Wisconsinites. Strohwig Industries provides machining and tooling services for a variety of markets, including automotive, industrial, and aerospace & defense.

I had a great time meeting with the team!

Moving on to the policy front—I have an update on the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) rule on the premerger notification process.

When Congress passed the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022 (MFFMA), it did so with an expectation that the FTC would implement changes to premerger notification as Congress intended. Specifically, to decrease the burden on small businesses. Instead, FTC Chair Khan used this as an opportunity to propose a rule that completely contradicted the intent of MFFMA, which would have resulted in increased burdens across all businesses, and disincentivized smaller mergers relative to larger ones.

Recently, the FTC voted unanimously to finalize the changes to premerger notification. While I remain concerned about the additional burden this rule imposes on merging parties, I commend the work by Republican Commissioners Holyoak and Ferguson to remove many of the proposed rule’s most dangerous provisions, including the collection of labor market information, which has historically not been a standard component of merger enforcement.

Additionally, in finalizing the rule, the Commission also voted unanimously to lift its suspension of early termination for mergers that pose no threat to competition, something I’ve advocated for since coming to Congress. Finally, the rule leaves intact the requirement to disclose subsidies from foreign entities of concern, as required through inclusion of my bill, the Foreign Merger Subsidy Disclosure Act, in the MFFMA. This law will enable antitrust regulators to follow the money when countries like China distort markets and harm competition.

The final product, which I support, demonstrates the importance of having Republican Commissioners at the FTC to push back on Chair Khan’s radical agenda. The unanimous support for removing the most dangerous provisions of the proposed rule also demonstrates that Chair Khan’s antitrust views do not align with the rest of the Commission, or the American people, and provides further evidence for why her term should not be renewed.

Lastly, an update on crime in America. Just last week we learned that the FBI misled the American people into believing violent crime decreased under the Biden-Harris Administration. The FBI discreetly updated a previously reported 2.1% decrease in violent crimes to reflect reality: a 4.5% increase in violent crime.

The FBI made no mention of this 6.6% point revision in its press release.

Anyone who’s been in a major U.S. city knows crime is NOT down under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ soft-on-crime policies. Between the FBI hiding the true nature of these numbers & the DOJ not issuing the pretrial release report due 132 days ago under my bill the Pretrial Release Reporting Act (now law), it is clear accountability is severely lacking.

It’s time to restore the safety and security of every American.

That wraps the congressional updates from last week.

Have a great week everyone and thanks for reading along!  

-Scott

That's a wrap for this week's eNewsletter! Follow me on Twitter and Facebook to stay up to date on my work for the 5th District of Wisconsin.

Sincerely,

Scott Fitzgerald
Member of Congress