Lawmakers and lobbyists anticipate a major fight over antitrust bills meant to tame Big Tech, before the midterms put an unofficial end to the legislative effort, Axios' Margaret Harding McGill and Ashley Gold report.

Why it matters: The bills could remake how Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google operate and treat competitors — if they make it over the finish line.

• Proponents say the bills could level the playing field for small businesses that increasingly rely on Big Tech, while critics argue they will jeopardize services consumers love.

What's happening: A number of bills that originated in a House Judiciary Committee package have bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress, and lawmakers want to move pieces forward as soon as possible.

• The American Innovation and Choice Online Act, which would prohibit Big Tech companies from favoring their own services in an anticompetitive way, is backed by the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, as well as antitrust subcommittee Chairwoman Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
• A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told Axios he is working with President Biden and colleagues "on the best ways to ensure robust competition and hold big corporations, including big tech, accountable through legislation or other means."
• "This year we will continue to build on the strong bipartisan momentum behind passing new laws to promote competition and establish rules of the road for the digital economy," Klobuchar told Axios.

What they're saying: "I think the timeline, to be sure we get them done as soon as possible, but certainly before the summer break, is critical," Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), chair of the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, told Axios. "We're at an important inflection point."

• "There is a lot of urgency to get something done in this Congress. By the summer, people's focus will turn to the midterms," he said.
• Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) ranking member of the antitrust subcommittee, told Axios: "The debate on these bills, the informing members of the advantages, the reasons for moving forward, that has to happen before the August recess."

Between the lines: Lawmakers want to be home campaigning before the midterms and also aren't keen on bipartisanship just before voters head to the polls.

Meanwhile, if Republicans take control of Congress, it's unlikely the Democrat-led bills will advance. Republicans will have their own legislative priorities.

• House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), has previously thrown cold water on the House antitrust effort.
• When asked if his stance has changed, a McCarthy spokesperson pointed to a framework McCarthy released last June largely focused on alleged bias by tech platforms against conservative-leaning content.

The other side: Tech companies that would be subject to these bills remain opposed.

• An Amazon spokesperson told Axios lawmakers are rushing through the process and dismissing concerns from companies in an attempt to get their colleagues on board without giving them time to fully review the bills.

The big picture: Democrats spent the first year of the Biden administration focused on key agenda items including pandemic relief and the infrastructure package. In 2022, the Build Back Better spending bill and voting rights will be priorities for the administration.

• A senior administration official told Axios the White House gave technical feedback on the antitrust bills last year when asked by members, and wants Congress to continue to develop the ideas.
• "If the moment is right, and there's an opportunity, I think that there's a lot of interest in making progress in this space," the official told Axios.

The Democratic National Committee has hired Steve Tran, a cybersecurity executive and former law enforcement official to be its new chief security officer.

Why it matters: Cybersecurity threats have emerged as a major point of risk for political parties, a fact brought to light by hacks during the 2016 election.

• "I couldn't be more excited to bring my experience and expertise to help the DNC and its mission," Tran said in a statement to Axios. "It's the biggest mission I've ever been a part of, and I'm eager to jump in and get started in this critically important work."

Between the lines: Tran was most recently information security chief for MGM and also worked for Fox Studios. He fills a spot vacated when Bob Lord left last spring.

• "Democrats across the ecosystem can feel confident that our security is in good hands," DNC executive director Sam Cornale told Axios.

Children of color spent more extra time in front of a screen than their white peers during the first year of the pandemic, according to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics, Marina E. Franco of Noticias Telemundo reports for Axios Latino.

Why it matters: More screen time has been associated with weight gain, "greater exposure to food advertising" and binge eating, as well as increased stress, per the study.

• Those factors could worsen health outcomes for children of color, who already face systemic health barriers such as lower insurance rates, higher obesity rates and less access to preventive medicine.

What they found: Non-educational screen time doubled for teenagers from an average of 3.8 daily hours before the pandemic to 7.7 hours daily, per the study.

• That daily average was considerably higher for Black (10 hours) and Hispanic (8.7 hours) kids.
• The study's authors suggest that's due to a "lack of financial resources to do other kinds of activities or lack of access to safe outdoor spaces."
• Asian and white non-Hispanic kids had an average of 6.8 hours.
• Most of that screen time was spent on streaming, video games and web browsing.

Don't forget: While the non-educational screen time rose for the groups, many Black and Latino children also suffered educational setbacks from a lack of connectivity to the internet and not having access to computers and tablets for online classes during the pandemic.

Trading Places

• John Pinette is stepping down as head of communications for Facebook parent Meta, as the Wall Street Journal reported late Friday.
• Scott Rosenberg, who helped launch the Roku Channel, is leaving the company. Rosenberg is, I'm told, no relation to Axios' Scott Rosenberg, the man who ensures Login is far more readable than it would be without him.

ICYMI

• An apparently disgruntled open source developer corrupted the source code for a pair of software libraries, potentially disrupting tons of products. (Bleeping Computer)
• The Wall Street Journal looked at the hold Apple has on teenagers who fear to show up to their peers as "green bubbles" in text messages. (Wall Street Journal)

This one is primarily for the Gen X-and-older crowd, but check out the resemblance between White Sox infielder Greg Pryor and the principal from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."