Big tech companies rule over many aspects of our lives, serving as gatekeepers that hold other innovative businesses back from changing the landscape. Legislation is watching companies and services like Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon with more scrutiny, and there is even a new antitrust bill that is supposed to pass the Senate this year to reign in big tech. Unfortunately, it looks like the bill might not make it before the midterm elections. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer signaled that he doesn’t believe the bill will have enough supporters in the Senate to pass.

As reported by Bloomberg, Chuck Schumer told a group of supporters that the bill probably won’t get enough votes to pass. A big issue is that four senators have tested positive for COVID-19 recently, which makes it more difficult for the Senate to vote on controversial topics such as this one. Another problem is a collection of other important bills on budget, healthcare, and semiconductor questions that need passing ahead of the midterm elections, too. After that, it’s unclear how the majority will build and what policies will be supported.

It certainly also doesn’t help that, as covered by John Oliver on a Last Week Tonight episode, at least 17 members of Congress have children who are or were employed at a big tech company. Notably, Schumer’s daughter is a marketing manager at Meta. It was already speculated that this could be one reason why the bill is moving so slowly, but naturally, the exact cause isn’t discussed.

The antitrust bill is meant to reign in the power the big companies wield and is supposed to make it easier to break them up. It should also limit the gatekeeping potential the companies have, leading to fairer markets for other businesses to compete in.