The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a bill aimed at curtailing the market power of Apple Inc.’s AAPL, -1.67% and Google parent Alphabet Inc.’s GOOGL, -3.32% GOOG, -3.64% app stores. By a 20-2 vote, the committee pushed along the Open App Markets Act, with only Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., in opposition. It is the second tech competition bill passed by the committee this year. Last month, the panel advanced the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, which would accomplish some of the same goals but is broader and could apply to Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, -7.81% and Meta Platforms Inc. FB, -26.39% as well. Both bills, which go to the full Senate, are intended to help developers led by advocates such as Epic Games Inc., Spotify Technology SPOT, -16.76%, and Match Group Inc. MTCH, -5.11%.
