# Plain Language Summary: The One Agency Act

This bill would eliminate the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust enforcement division and transfer all of its work to the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division. Right now, both agencies share responsibility for enforcing antitrust laws—the rules that prevent companies from unfairly dominating markets or engaging in anti-competitive behavior. The bill's supporters argue this creates confusion and wastes taxpayer money by duplicating efforts, so they want to consolidate everything under one roof at the Justice Department.

Here's what would actually happen: All FTC antitrust employees would be transferred to the Justice Department, along with their ongoing investigations, lawsuits, and funding. This includes cases the FTC is currently working on—everything from investigating whether big tech companies are breaking antitrust laws to reviewing major business mergers. The transition would happen over roughly one to two years. During this period, the FTC would be frozen—it couldn't hire new antitrust staff, start new investigations, or settle any cases without approval from the Attorney General. The Justice Department would take over all existing FTC antitrust cases and decide how to proceed with them.

The practical impact depends on your perspective. If you're a consumer concerned about corporate monopolies, this could mean faster, more coordinated enforcement since there's only one agency making decisions instead of two potentially working at cross-purposes. However, it could also mean less scrutiny overall if the Justice Department has fewer resources or different priorities than the FTC did. Businesses might appreciate having a single point of contact for antitrust matters, but they'd also lose the option of dealing with an agency that might take a different approach. The bill essentially consolidates significant government power over competition enforcement into one agency under the Attorney General's control.

One Agency Act

Cline, Ben

One Agency ActThis bill consolidates federal antitrust enforcement authority in one department by transferring the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) antitrust functions, employees, assets, and funding to the Department of Justice (DOJ). The bill provides a one-year period for DOJ to implement the transition and allows DOJ to extend the period once for an additional 180 days. During the transition period, DOJ may restructure the department's antitrust division and deputize FTC antitrust employees to investigate and prosecute antitrust violations on behalf of DOJ prior to the completion of the transfer of personnel from the FTC to DOJ. DOJ is also authorized to require businesses to file annual or special reports about the business’s organization, conduct, practices, management, and relationship to other businesses filing such reports.