August 14, 2018 – Mobile Office Visit to Summit County

Aug 14, 2018

What: Mobile Office Visit to Park City When: Tuesday, August 14, 2018 @ 11:00 – 12:00 pm Where: 445 Marsac Ave, Park City, UT 84060 (East Conference Room, Top floor)

August 14, 2018 – Mobile Office Visit to Summit County

Aug 14, 2018

What: Mobile Office Visit to Coalville When: Tuesday, August 14, 2018 @ 2:00-3:00 pm Where: 10 S Main St, Coalville, UT 84017 (City Hall)

Sen. Lee Letter on Possible T-Mobile/Sprint Merger

Aug 7, 2018

Yesterday, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) sent a letter to the Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission highlighting testimony presented at the June 27, 2018, hearing on the proposed T-Mobile US and Sprint merger. The letter draws the agencies’ attention to important issues raised by witnesses appearing at the hearing, including the resulting increase in market concentration in the wireless telecommunications industry, and the potential for the merger to create a more competitive wireless carrier. In particular, the letter addresses the potential for significant efficiencies that would benefit consumers.

The Truth About 3D Guns

Aug 3, 2018

This Tuesday President Trump tweeted, “I am looking into 3-D Plastic Guns being sold to the public. Already spoke to NRA, doesn’t seem to make much sense!” The White House has not offered any clarification on what exactly President Trump’s tweet meant, but if he is worried about plastic guns being sold to the public, he shouldn’t be. The Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988 already makes the sale, and even the mere possession, of plastic guns illegal.

Welfare Reform Worked. Let’s Stop Undermining It

Aug 3, 2018

True bipartisan public policy reform is rare these days. Successful public policy reform is even rarer. But that is exactly what happened in 1996 when a Republican House, a Republican Senate, and a Democratic President fought through a toxic partisan political environment to pass a historic realignment of the American welfare state. At the time, President Clinton called the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, “the end of welfare as we know it.” And the legislation was a sea change in American welfare policy. No longer would the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program guarantee a check each month with no strings attached. Instead, most welfare recipients would be expected to work, or participate in job training programs, after two years of receiving benefits.

The War on Almond Milk

Jul 27, 2018

A few years ago a small start-up company in California called JUST, Inc., formerly known as Hampton Creek, started selling a vegan brand of mayonnaise called “Just Mayo” in stores nationwide. This start-up company was the picture of an American success story: a small business that developed a popular and innovative product, in this case an affordable eggless alternative to mayonnaise.

Make the Rich Insure Their Own Beach Homes

Jul 27, 2018

The National Flood Insurance Program is in desperate need of reform. It creates a government monopoly to insure some of the most expensive real estate in the world. These are homes and home-owners that the private sector should be falling all over itself to insure.

National Flood Insurance Program

Jul 26, 2018

The National Flood Insurance Program is a national embarrassment, and everyone in this building knows it. It is fiscally unsustainable because it is structurally unsound. And yet, here we are again, for the seventh time in six years, considering a so-called “straight” reauthorization. “Straight.”

Sen. Lee Celebrates Pioneer Day with 2nd Annual Taste of Utah

Jul 25, 2018

WASHINGTON - This evening, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and the Utah delegation celebrated Pioneer Day and Utah’s continued pioneering and industrious spirit at the 2nd Annual Taste of Utah in Washington, D.C. This year’s event hosted over 500 attendees who learned about, enjoyed product from, and interacted with business owners from over 20+ Utah businesses representing food, manufacturing, and more.

No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act (NOPEC)

Jul 20, 2018

Americans are all too familiar with sticker shock at the gas pump. How often have we pulled into the gas station only to be dismayed at the cost of filling the tank?

But gas prices don’t have to be as high as they are. In fact, oil prices have been subject to artificial and illegal pricing by OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, for decades.

OPEC, an intergovernmental organization of 15 nations, was founded in 1960 with the stated mission of “coordinating” members countries’ production of oil and “stabilizing” oil markets. Accounting for more than 60 percent of the world’s crude oil exports, OPEC essentially coordinates oil production to manipulate prices and supply, driving up fuel costs for millions of consumers across America and the world.

In other words, OPEC functions as a blatant international oil cartel.

For evidence, we need look no further than the 1970s oil embargo, when OPEC slashed oil production and pushed oil prices to record highs. Or more recently, OPEC decided to cut back production at the end of 2016 through 2017, reducing production by a total of nearly 1.8 million barrels per day, and again increasing prices.

The United States has long prohibited price-fixing and market-division conspiracies through our antitrust laws. Over a century ago, Congress passed the Sherman Act to combat the threat posed by anti-competitive cartels.

And due to globalization, many countries have worked on a multinational effort to police cartels, in some cases entering into formal cooperation agreements to combat international price-fixing.

In fact, since 1999 the U.S. Department of Justice has prosecuted many other international cartels involved in the production of rubber chemicals, electrodes, airlines, memory chips and vitamins.

But historically, U.S. courts have not been able to enforce antitrust laws against OPEC, finding that it is protected by sovereign immunity under federal statute and the “Act of State” doctrine.

That is why I have worked with Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) to introduce the No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act, or NOPEC.

Our bill would explicitly authorize the Justice Department to bring lawsuits against oil cartel members for antitrust violations, clarifying that neither sovereign immunity nor the “Act of State” doctrine makes them exempt from the laws regarding illegal coordination and price fixing.

If private companies engaged in the international price-fixing activities that OPEC has, there is no question they would be found guilty of illegal behavior. There is no reason that this cartel should be treated differently based on their connection to national governments.

Our bill would therefore loosen OPEC’s unfair control over our economy, helping restore the principles of fair competition and the free market. And at the end of the day, this will help consumers in America – and across the world – have more affordable access to gas and lessen the expenses of the daily necessities to take care of their families.