MINNEAPOLIS — The effort led by Sen. Amy Klobuchar to stop the nation's largest tech companies from harming smaller firms is nearing a climax as Congress races to finish work before the midterm election.
A bill by the Minnesota Democrat and Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, passed a key Senate committee with bipartisan support earlier this year. The companies it aims to restrict — firms including Google, Apple and Amazon, with a market value exceeding $500 billion — responded with a flurry of lobbying and advertising to stop it from going further.
"I've taken a pragmatic approach. The companies don't want anything to pass," Klobuchar said in an interview last week. "Given the enormity of their power and their percentage of the economy, at some point Congress is going to have to jump in and protect the marketplace. I'm waiting for that moment, which I hope is soon."
