3C Criticizes Sen. Klobuchar’s Latest Amendment to S. 2992 as a Sham that Doesn’t Address Small Business Concerns

Washington, DC (May 26, 2022): Rob Retzlaff, Connected Commerce Council (3C) Executive Director, released the following statement following Sen. Klobuchar’s (D-MN) manager’s amendment to Senate Bill 2992, the American Innovation and Choice online Act. 

“Senate Klobuchar’s manager’s amendment is political window dressing, designed to make her colleagues believe she has addressed some of the countless issues raised with the bill. She clearly did not listen. Instead of addressing important small business concerns, the bill now exempts global financial services giants like Visa and MasterCard and the telecom oligopoly. This is progress toward consensus?

“Nowhere in its 24 pages does the amendment mitigate the drastic harm that the bill will bring on millions of small businesses that benefit from large digital platforms’ small business products and services, such as Amazon Prime, Google Business Profiles, and Google Maps. By prohibiting “self-preferencing” and creating several new and untested legal theories, S. 2992 will destroy these and other affordable services that deliver extraordinary benefits to small businesses nationwide. This is why 87% of small businesses are concerned about harmful unintended consequences of legislation like S. 2992, and only 7% believe it should be a priority.”

“Small businesses do not want this bill and are worried it will make digital tools more expensive and less useful. But in typical Washington fashion, it is once again ‘Damn the consequences, full speed ahead before the next election.”