# Plain Language Summary: Main Street Competes Act

This bill is designed to make sure the government pays closer attention to how big companies' anticompetitive behavior affects small businesses. Right now, the federal government enforces antitrust laws (rules that prevent unfair business practices), but there's no systematic way to track whether these enforcement efforts actually help small businesses compete fairly. This bill creates a reporting system to fill that gap.

Here's what it does in practical terms: The bill requires the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to file annual reports showing how many complaints they received from small businesses about unfair competition, how many of those complaints they investigated, and what actions they took. For example, if a small retailer complains that a large competitor is using predatory pricing to drive them out of business, the government would now have to track and report on that complaint. The Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy will then analyze these reports and share findings with Congress and the public. This creates transparency and accountability around whether the government is actually protecting small businesses from anticompetitive conduct like price discrimination, unfair mergers, or exclusionary practices.

The bill also updates the government's official policy on small business to explicitly include promoting competitive markets and protecting small businesses through antitrust enforcement. It requires the President's annual report on the state of small business to examine how antitrust enforcement affects small business competitiveness and recommend solutions to problems. Essentially, this bill makes small business protection a more visible and measurable part of how the government enforces competition laws, rather than something that happens quietly behind the scenes.

Main Street Competes Act

Newman, Marie

Main Street Competes Act This bill expands certain reporting requirements and responsibilities of the Small Business Administration with respect to the effect on small businesses of the enforcement of federal antitrust laws.