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| Elizabeth Warren |
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) today announced plans to introduce legislation designed to impose a moratorium on "risky" mergers and acquisitions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Pandemic Anti-Monopoly Act will be designed to thwart "giant corporations and private equity vultures who are just waiting for a chance to gobble up struggling small businesses and increase their power through predatory mergers," said Warren.
The politicos are disturbed about media reports that Rite Aid and other companies are looking to acquire smaller businesses to consolidate and cement their industry leadership positions.
The Act's ban would cover M/As by companies with more than $100M in revenues and exclusive patents that have an impact on the COVID-19 emergency.
The moratorium would remain in place until the Federal Trade Commission unanimously declares that small businesses, workers and consumers are no longer under financial duress.
The legislative details of the Act are under development.
Erik Hotmire has rejoined the Securities and Exchange Commission as chief external affairs officer and director of the Office of Public Affairs.
California seeks a firm to handle a $3.5M marketing/ad program to promote awareness of, and increase sign-ups in, its job corps program. 
The National Highway Safety Administration has awarded its public education to Stratacomm following a competitive re-compete process.
Congress wants the FTC to probe whether TikTok violated child privacy laws when it launched a last-ditch lobbying blitz to defeat the bill requiring its owner, ByteDance, to divest it.
Jeffrey Nesbit, who served as communications director for former vice president Dan Quayle, is named assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services.
