Main Street Competition Coalition Urges Congress To Increase Funding to FTC and DOJ Antitrust

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 19, 2026

Contact: Chris Jones, Executive Director
info@cenmarkstrat.com

MAIN STREET COMPETITION COALITION URGES CONGRESS TO INCREASE FUNDING TO FTC AND DOJ ANTITRUST

Cross-sector coalition’s first major action since May 14 launch makes the case that Main Street businesses can’t take on dominant incumbents without adequately funded enforcers

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Main Street Competition Coalition (MSCC), which launched last Thursday at the National Press Club, today joined members and allied groups in sending a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees calling for FY 2027 funding of $313 million for the Department of Justice Antitrust Division and $487.4 million for the Federal Trade Commission.

The letter was sent to Chairman Tom Cole and Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro of the House Committee on Appropriations and Chair Susan Collins and Ranking Member Patty Murray of the Senate Committee on Appropriations. The $313 million Antitrust Division figure matches the level included in the House CJS Subcommittee legislation approved April 30. The $487.4 million FTC request is a 14.4 percent increase over the agency’s FY 2025 appropriated level, before the cuts imposed in the FY 2026 cycle.

“Main Street doesn’t have the resources to fight market power alone,” said Chris Jones, Executive Director of the Main Street Competition Coalition. “When a dominant supplier discriminates on price, an independent grocer can’t litigate that case by itself. Farmers can’t take on fertilizer giants without help. Community pharmacists can’t outspend the PBMs. The enforcers are the backstop. Right now, the backstop is underfunded, and the playing field tilts more steeply toward the largest incumbents every year that gap widens.”

The letter draws on a 2019 Washington Center for Equitable Growth study finding that since 2010, U.S. GDP has grown 37 percent while appropriations for the Antitrust Division and the FTC have grown only 3 percent. The letter notes that the gap has continued to widen in the years since.

The coalition’s launch event last Thursday featured a bipartisan keynote from Rep. Mike Rulli (R-OH) and former FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya, along with panels of independent business owners and a cross-ideological policy discussion. Founding organizations include the National Community Pharmacists Association and the National Grocers Association.

“American families are paying more for groceries, more for prescription drugs, and farmers are paying more for inputs,” Jones said. “Funding the antitrust agencies is the cheapest investment Congress can make in lower prices for consumers, and the most direct way to give independent businesses a real shot at competing.”

The letter also asks Congress to give the Antitrust Division access to the $61 million in excess Hart-Scott-Rodino collections from years prior to FY 2026 that the Administration has requested in its budget, and to return in future cycles to the pre-FY 2024 practice of appropriating General Funds for antitrust conduct matters alongside the HSR fee structure that funds merger review.

The letter is signed by business associations, conservative and progressive think tanks and leaders, and industry coalitions across the food, pharmacy, agriculture, and broader independent-business sectors.

The full text of the letter is available here.

About the Main Street Competition Coalition

The Main Street Competition Coalition is a cross-sector, cross-ideological advocacy organization representing independent businesses, farmers, and the broader Main Street economy on competition policy and antitrust enforcement. The Coalition was launched publicly on May 14, 2026, with roughly 40 member organizations.