WASHINGTON: Indian-Origin US Lawmaker Named Vice Chair Of Key Congressional Subcommittee

WASHINGTON: Indian-American Congresswoman
Pramila Jayapal has been named vice chair of the Subcommittee on Antitrust,
Commercial, and Administrative Law.

Chennai-born
Jayapal, 55, from the Democratic Party, will oversee the subcommittee’s urgent
work on antitrust, big tech, reining in anti-competitive behaviour, helping
prevent monopolistic practices, protecting a free press, and allowing
innovation to thrive.

Ms
Jayapal, the only Indian-American woman in the House of Representatives, has
been a leading voice on the committee, where she most recently played an active
role in conducting America”s first major congressional antitrust investigation
in decades, a media release said.

“I
am honoured to lead the House Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and
Administrative Law at a pivotal moment in which we must write the next chapter
of antitrust law,” Jayapal said in a statement.

“That’s
how we will finally hold dominant tech platforms accountable while advocating
for workers, stopping hate and misinformation, and protecting a free
press,” she said.

“By
reasserting the power of Congress and using our historic investigation as a
roadmap, we will continue the work necessary to rein in anti-competitive
behaviour, help prevent monopolistic practices, protect local and independent
journalism, and allow innovation to thrive,” Jayapal said on Wednesday.

In July,
Jayapal questioned the CEOs of three dominant tech platforms.

She asked
former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos about how the tech giant uses third party seller
data. She also questioned Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on how the social
networking giant harvests and monetises user data and then utilizes it to copy,
acquire, and kill rivals, the media release said.

Additionally,
Jayapal asked Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai about the company”s total control of
the ad market as the owner of the market, the ad buyer, and the ad seller,
which has harmful effects on the local and independent journalism necessary for
our democracy to thrive.
The hearing was part of the Antitrust Subcommittee’s more than 16-month
investigation into the state of competition in the digital economy.

“I
can say conclusively that self-regulation by Big Tech comes at the expense of
our communities, small businesses, consumers, the free press, and
innovation,” she said after the investigation”s findings were released in
October.

 In December, Jayapal was elected
as the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), making her one of
the most powerful US lawmakers in the 117th Congress.