Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios
Senate Republicans are about to ask the Federal Trade Commission to "follow the law" on recent oil and gas mergers.
Why it matters: The antitrust regulator is facing pressure from the left to clamp down on oil and gas industry consolidation.
Driving the news: Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and 37 GOP senators plan to send a letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan arguing against Senate Democrats' request for oil and gas antitrust action.
- Led by Sen. Ted Cruz, the letter rebuts specific arguments Democrats have made about how mergers could affect competition in the oil and gas sector, according to a copy shared with Axios.
- "Our Democratic colleagues may be entitled to their own opinions, but a fair and unbiased review of these mergers must be based upon actual facts."
Zoom in: The letter also argues that ceding to Democrats' wishes would be equivalent to "anti-fossil fuel policy preferences" that Congress "has not authorized the Federal Trade Commission to regulate."
- This point matters because if the FTC did wade into the waters of oil mergers, it could get kicked around a federal court system already weighing SCOTUS' new "major questions" doctrine.
- That's the originalist legal notion that agencies should not be acting beyond the texts of specific statutes.
Flashback: The FTC under President Trump wound up opposing a giant coal industry deal during the last year of his presidency.
