WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department said Monday they were notified about more than 4,000 transactions proposed between March 2020 to September 2021. This is significantly higher than usual.

They share the task of enforcement antitrust law. The portal accepts notifications of transactions.

The portal received filings for more than 4000 transactions between then and September 10, 2021. This took approximately 18 months according to the agency’s report.

The report stated that this compares to 1,637 in 2020, 2,089 in fiscal 2019, and 2,111 in 2018, respectively.

According to the FTC, a list of filings on their website indicates that they started increasing in 2020’s fall. In November 2020 alone, 424 were filed. The tally indicates that there have been over 300 filings in the past three months.

On the current track, U.S. companies’ announced transaction volumes are on track for the highest level in over 20 years. But agency resources are not keeping up. FTC and DOJ funding between 2010-2016 stagnated and, real terms, actually fell,” FTC Chair Lina Kan said, which was joined in a joint statement by Rebecca Slaughter, a Democrat.

Christine Wilson and Noah Phillips (Republicans on the Commission) said the FTC may be experiencing difficulties with some filings because it has expanded enforcement priorities.

Congress has been considering legislation, among other antitrust laws, to increase U.S. antitrust enforcement budgets.