Main Street Competes Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Main Street Competes Act rewrites the Small Business Economic Policy Act reporting section on the state of small business concerns. Within 180 days after the fiscal year of enactment, and every two fiscal years thereafter, each specified antitrust enforcement entity must report to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy at SBA's Office of Advocacy. Those reports must explain how enforcement of federal antitrust laws promoted competition by deterring or remedying anticompetitive conduct, including illegal mergers, that harms small businesses. They must also count small-business complaints by offense type and statute, investigations and enforcement actions opened in response to those complaints, and other antitrust matters opened to address harm to small businesses.
After receiving the agency reports, the Office of Advocacy must report to the House and Senate small-business committees. Its report must summarize the agency data, analyze it by industry, evaluate anticompetitive conduct and pro-competition administrative actions, and recommend administrative or legislative steps to promote competition and remedy harm to small businesses.
Who Benefits and How
Small businesses harmed by anticompetitive conduct benefit from more visible antitrust complaint and enforcement data. SBA's Office of Advocacy benefits from recurring agency reports that support industry-level competition analysis. Congressional small-business committees benefit from recommendations on administrative and legislative competition policy. Antitrust enforcement agencies benefit from a structured way to show small-business impacts of enforcement work. Independent retailers, suppliers, and startups benefit if the reports push attention toward illegal mergers or exclusionary conduct that limits their growth.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Antitrust enforcement agencies must collect complaint, investigation, and enforcement data related to small businesses every two fiscal years. SBA advocacy staff must analyze the data by industry and write recommendations. Firms accused of anticompetitive conduct may face more public pressure or policy scrutiny. Congressional staff must evaluate recurring recommendations. Agency data teams must classify small-business complaints by offense type and statutory basis.
Key Provisions
- Requires specified antitrust enforcement entities to report every two fiscal years on competition enforcement affecting small businesses.
- Requires counts of small-business complaints, investigations, and enforcement actions by offense and statute.
- Directs SBA's Office of Advocacy to analyze agency data by industry.
- Requires evaluation of anticompetitive conduct, illegal mergers, and administrative actions that promoted small-business growth.
- Directs administrative and legislative recommendations to promote competition and remedy harm to small businesses.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Requires antitrust enforcement agencies to report every two fiscal years to SBA's Office of Advocacy on how antitrust enforcement promoted competition for small businesses, then requires the Office of Advocacy to analyze the data by industry and recommend administrative or legislative actions.
Key Policy Areas
Small Business, Antitrust, Competition, Federal Reporting
Primary Purpose
Requires antitrust enforcement agencies to report every two fiscal years to SBA's Office of Advocacy on how antitrust enforcement promoted competition for small businesses, then requires the Office of Advocacy to analyze the data by industry and recommend administrative or legislative actions.
Policy Domains
House resolution provisions
Identified Gains
- Small businesses harmed by anticompetitive conduct
- SBA Office of Advocacy
- Congressional small business committees
- Antitrust enforcement agencies
- Independent retailers
- Startups
Identified Costs
- Antitrust enforcement agencies
- SBA advocacy staff
- Firms accused of anticompetitive conduct
- Congressional staff
- Agency data teams
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
ReportedPlaced on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 595.
Reported by the Committee on Small Business. H. Rept. 119-682.
Additional sponsor: Ms. Goodlander
Additional sponsor: Ms. Goodlander
Ordered to be Reported by the Yeas and Nays: 23 …
Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
Ms. Scholten (for herself and Mr. Schmidt) introduced the following …
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Small Business.
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
SBA advocacy staff, Small businesses harmed by anticompetitive conduct
Positive-direction: Small businesses harmed by anticompetitive conduct
Negative-direction: SBA advocacy staff
Antitrust enforcement agencies, Firms accused of anticompetitive conduct
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "advocacy"
- → SBA Office of Advocacy
- "antitrust"
- → Federal antitrust enforcement agencies
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology