Rubio Warns ESG Practices Can Break Antitrust Laws

Back in July, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) outlined proposals to combat environmental social governance (ESG) policies practiced by corporations. ESG essentially involves companies behaving in ways favorable to a leftwing cultural and political agenda, and thus are, in the words of DeSantis, "the leveraging of corporate power to an impose an ideological agenda on society." While DeSantis sought to fight ESG in Florida, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is ginning up to fight it at a national level.

A recent letter jointly written with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) has been sent to 51 law firms representing various companies. Rubio warns the firms that their clients' collusion on ESG initiatives is likely a form of breaking antitrust laws. The letter cites a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing wherein FTC Commissioner Lina Khan says as such, noting that "certainly, those types of cooperation or agreements, in as much as they can affect competition, are always relevant to” the FTC. Additionally, Assistant AG to Antitrust Division Jonathan Kanter, also at the hearing, says that "when firms have substantial power and they use that power to achieve anticompetitive ends, that should be actionable under the antitrust laws."

Rubio's letter says that ESG initiatives seek "to weaponize corporations to reshape society in ways that Americans would never endorse at the ballot box." Furthermore, ESG initiatives are restricting access to fossil fuels, which partly explains the energy crisis that Rubio claims is "empowering America’s adversaries abroad." However, Rubio says that Congress will begin clamping down on ESG, presumably after Republicans are predicted to retake both the House and Senate in the midterms, and these companies should have the relevant documents ready for it.

These are the sort of actions that Dr. Sebastian Gorka was referring to when he said that every Congressional committee "every single committee of Congress has to become a serious oversight body that subpoenas, that does investigations."