President Joe Biden repeatedly called for expanding government during his State of the Union address on Tuesday.

As part of that agenda, Biden endorsed a left-wing bill that would supercharge his administration's crusade to push wokeness with the full force of the federal government. Conservatives should take notice.

Biden called on Congress to "pass bipartisan legislation to strengthen antitrust enforcement and prevent big online platforms from giving their own products an unfair advantage." The president is referring to the misleadingly-named "American Innovation and Choice Online Act" (AICOA) legislation sponsored by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). It would give unelected bureaucrats the new authority to control the economy. AICOA sets new rules and restrictions on companies larger than a government-determined size, which, as written, would affect America's biggest technology companies: Apple, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. Meta is now too small for AICOA to regulate.

But conservatives should be wary. AICOA would make Big Tech censorship worse by giving the Biden administration new power.

The bill gives carte blanche regulatory authority to the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the federal agencies tasked with antitrust enforcement. Remember the IRS targeting conservative nonprofit organizations? This is like that on steroids.

Empowering the FTC, in particular, should keep conservatives up at night, as FTC Chair Lina Khan has not been shy in advocating government-sponsored wokeness. In a keynote speech to a far-left conference, Khan said that the government does not do enough to shape "economic outcomes" and blasted the free market as a "product of metaphysical forces." FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter advocates a "diversity, inclusion, and anti-racist" antitrust agenda.

AICOA gives the FTC all the tools they need to force companies to go woke or go broke. If a Biden bureaucrat determines that a company has violated one of AICOA's vague provisions, the government can levy a civil penalty of up to 10% of a company's revenue. This "Death penalty" fine can easily amount to twice the size of a company's profits in a low-margin sector like retail.

Giving the Biden administration new power over the economy as AICOA does would force every American company into a "Mother-May-I" relationship with the federal government. As we have seen with Twitter, the Biden administration is not shy about using the bully pulpit to pressure social media platforms into censoring content online. If a targeted company has to obtain permission from Biden bureaucrats to conduct routine business, one can easily see more government-directed censorship of conservative speech coming down the pike.

Conservatives should also oppose treating companies differently based on their market capitalization. If Congress sets this precedent, the left can trap any industry they want under Biden's bureaucrats. Tech may be on the chopping block today, but if Congress passes AICOA, the left can target every industry under the sun tomorrow.

Tuesday's State of the Union address made it clear: Biden wants to weaponize conservative anger at Big Tech to trick Republicans into giving his administration more power. Republicans shouldn't take the bait.

Tom Hebert is Director of Competition and Regulatory Policy at Americans for Tax Reform.