WHITE HOUSE GETS OFF THE FENCE — The Biden team came out in favor of the antitrust measures moving through both houses of Congress late Thursday — but how much public support and political capital the White House aims to spend on reining in giant tech companies remains an open question. The move, coming hours after the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced a bill to break Apple and Google's hold on app stores, marks the first time the White House has officially weighed in on the congressional antitrust push, Leah and POLITICO's Adam Cancryn reported. While the White House held a "listening session" with supporters of tech antitrust reform two weeks ago, it offered a neutral readout afterward, saying only that officials "look forward to working with Congress to make bipartisan progress on the issue." But that polite restraint ended this week following the administration's foray into the European Union's draft Digital Markets Act — a package of rules designed to rein in the power of tech giants. As Leah and POLITICO EU's Samuel Stolton and Mark Scott reported, D.C. antitrust advocates weren't pleased with the policy paper, thinking it could undermine pending congressional legislation targeting the digital giants. The Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue — a group of 75 U.S. and EU consumer groups — called out the Biden administration Thursday for expressing "concern" about the administration's statements on the DMA. "The DMA does not target U.S. companies but rather targets companies that are in a position to define how goods, services, and information reach customers and which too often turn this position to their advantage to the detriment of competition and consumers' interests," the groups said, urging Biden to "work constructively with the EU" on finalizing the legislation. Biden was always going to have to make a decision on whether to publicly back the antitrust bills — particularly with congressional Democrats split. About those intraparty tensions … The moderate House New Democrats met Thursday afternoon with antitrust chair David Cicilline (D-R.I.) to talk about the tech antitrust bills. ( Leah and Emily with the report. ) Aides said the meeting was polite, but at least one member — Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) — expressed serious concerns. The 97-member coalition will meet next week with two other vocal opponents, California Democrats Zoe Lofgren and Lou Correa. SECOND SOHN HEARING IGNITES CANTWELL BACKLASH — Cantwell (D-Wash.) is facing increasing criticism from progressive groups for her decision to hold a rare follow-up confirmation hearing for Sohn — with one group even calling on Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to strip the senator of her Commerce committee gavel. — Cranking up the dial: These attacks have already attracted Senate leadership attention and could inflame partisan tensions going into next week's hearing (not to mention backfire, given these groups ultimately need the Democratic committee chair to advance their policy priorities). A call took place Thursday between members of Schumer's staff and a handful of representatives from the progressive groups attacking Cantwell. A source familiar with the call, who was not authorized to speak publicly, told MT it was a "friendly and productive conversation." — That escalated quickly: The attacks on Cantwell began Wednesday, just hours after she scheduled a second hearing for Sohn for Feb. 9, with progressive tech groups Public Knowledge (a group Sohn once led) and Free Press criticizing the senator's decision. On Thursday, two more groups joined the fray. In addition to New America's Open Technology Institute, an aggressive response came from Fight for the Future, whose director, Evan Greer, called on Senate leadership "to immediately remove Senator Maria Cantwell from her position as chair." Greer also tweeted she was "appalled at the treatment that [Cantwell] has shown toward Sohn, the first openly LGBTQ+ nominee to the FCC." — Hands tied: Between Sen. Ben Ray Luján's (D-N.M.) looming absence due to a medical emergency this week and Republican threats to boycott the vote on Sohn (and a broad slate of other Biden nominees) unless another hearing for the FCC nominee was scheduled, a committee staffer said Cantwell effectively had no choice. "We all want the same thing," Cantwell spokesperson Tricia Enright said in response to criticism from progressive groups. "And that's to put Gigi Sohn on the FCC."
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