New House Oversight Subcommittee A 'better Use Of Congress' Time' Than Antitech Laws: CEI
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House Republicans' creation of a new federal government select subcommittee on firearms has been viewed by free-market think tanks as a more effective effort to protect Americans' First Amendment rights than passing legislation against the gun industry.
The new commission, led by Jim Jordan of Ohio, who will chair the full Judiciary Committee, is partially investigating the federal government's alleged collusion with major technology companies to suppress US protests.
© Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) speaks during an on-camera interview in front of the House of Representatives during a round of votes at the US Capitol building on January 9, 2023 in Washington, DC. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images"This mistake is a much better use of Congressional time than previous anti-big-tech efforts," said Jessica Melugin, director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute's Center for Technology and Innovation.
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"American technology companies provide jobs, benefits and innovation for Americans," Melugin continued. “The only real threat is the use of government coercion to pressure these organizations into making politically motivated decisions that they would otherwise not be able to make. Instead of telling the nation's most successful industries how to do business in a broken American economy, government should get out of the way."
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Melugin said Fox Business better serves American consumers by fulfilling its constitutional oversight responsibilities than by "attacking big tech" instead of Democrats and Republicans in Congress. He sees the establishment of the new subcommittee as a positive development that will allow lawmakers to investigate the government's role in pressuring social media companies to remove certain content or remove certain users from their platforms.
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The talks about the new subcommittee come after Twitter's new owner, Elon Musk, published a series of reports known as the "Twitter Files" containing internal communications from the platform alleging that the US government is pushing the social media giant to target Americans to censor.
Melugin said the government should sue Congress, not private companies, for violating citizens' free speech rights.
© Photo by Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images Representative Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) delivers opening remarks during a House Judiciary Committee hearing at the U.S. Capitol on October 21, 2021 in Washington, DC. Photo by Greg Nash-Pool/Getty ImagesHe expressed optimism that Jordan would lead the group, saying he is better than other House Republicans at filling traditional positions, and expressed skepticism about using antitrust laws against Big Tech to achieve content moderation goals.
"I think careful and thoughtful work needs to be done here," Melugin said. "I hope that's what's happening."
Fox News' Brooke Syngman and Sarah Rumpf contributed to this report.