Sponsors (5)
The bill expands and clarifies antitrust protections for buyers and streamlines damage recovery, but it also broadens liability and creates a strong presumption of damages that could increase litigation risk, compliance costs, and ultimately consumer prices.
Buyers — consumers and businesses (including small businesses and middle-class families) — gain broader antitrust protection because the statute expressly covers "products or services" and any activity "affecting commerce," making more conduct actionable under the law.
Victims of unlawful price discrimination — particularly small businesses and affected consumers — receive an automatic presumption of injury equal to the monetary harm, which simplifies recovery and reduces the litigation burden for plaintiffs.
Potential plaintiffs and defendants get clearer rules because the bill defines "purchase" and "purchaser," reducing legal ambiguity about who may bring claims under section 2.
Large retailers and firms face broader liability risk because the law’s reach covers activities "affecting commerce" and services, increasing potential compliance and litigation costs for businesses.
The conclusive/automatic presumption of damages for price-discrimination victims increases defendants' exposure to monetary awards even where competitive effects are debatable, raising the risk of overdeterrence and higher consumer prices.
Mid-size and smaller retailers (including those with up to $100B in annual retail sales) remain exposed to liability when they knowingly induce or receive benefits, which could subject these businesses to costly antitrust suits.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Expands federal price-discrimination law to products and services, broadens commerce coverage, adds a $100B sales-based scienter safe harbor, and creates a conclusive presumption of damages equal to the discriminatory amount.
Amends the Clayton Act to broaden the federal prohibition on discriminatory pricing and related conduct: it reaches acts “in commerce or in any activity affecting commerce,” replaces "goods, wares, or merchandise" with "products or services," and refines who counts as a purchaser. The bill adds a size-based scienter safe harbor that limits liability for persons with annual retail sales at or below $100,000,000,000 unless they knowingly induced or received the benefit. It also creates a conclusive presumption that a plaintiff unlawfully discriminated against has sustained injury and damages equal to the monetary amount (or equivalent) of the unlawful discrimination, while still allowing proof of additional damages. The amendments apply to transactions on or after enactment.
Introduced March 19, 2026 by Christopher Murphy · Last progress March 19, 2026