Amazon to acquire MGM for $8 billion while Senate votes to give tech giant $10 billion handout

The same day Amazon was making its largest acquisition ever, a Senate committee voted to give Amazon $10 billion for "redundancy" in its space exploration program.

Sen. Josh Hawley, an opponent of big tech monopolization and censorship called out the sale, saying that Amazon "is already a monopoly platform that owns e-commerce, shipping, groceries, & the cloud." The concern is that Amazon is taking over pretty much every sphere of American life.

Amazon has acquired MGM for $8.45 billion in order to offer a larger catalog for its AmazonPrime streaming service. Senior Vice President of Prime Video and Amazon Studios Mike Hopkins said that "The real financial value behind this deal is the treasure trove of IP in the deep catalog that we plan to reimagine and develop together with MGM’s talented team. It's very exciting and provides so many opportunities for high-quality storytelling."

At the same time as this massive acquisition, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee voted to give Amazon $10 billion as part of NASA's plan to land astronauts on the moon in 2024. The money is to create a "redundancy" for the space program as Elon Musk and SpaceX already have the primary contract.

Hawley took issue with that as well, especially on the heels of this incredibly large corporate buy, asking why the Senate is forking over this huge sum.

"We need redundancy in the system, so this is the normal way that NASA usually does it," Maria Cantwell, the chair of the Committee told The Hill.  

Sen. Bernie Sanders was not a fan of the move saying, "I have got a real problem with the authorization of $10 billion going to somebody who, among other things, is the wealthiest person in this country."

"I worry very much that what we are seeing now is two of the wealthiest people in this country, Mr. Elon Musk and Mr. Bezos, deciding that they are going to take control over our space industry," Sanders said.

Sen. Hawley has previously been an advocate for breaking up what he calls big tech monopolies, telling Fox News' Tucker Carlson, "I would break up the big tech companies. Make them spin off the their various parts," Hawley said. "For instance, Amazon should not be able to have the dominant e-commerce platform and also control the cloud."