Biden announces strike force to fight 'corporate rip-offs'

By Chris Matthews

The president's NEC director says some companies may be breaking the law with price hikes

The Biden administration announced Tuesday the creation of a new "strike force" that will facilitate interagency efforts to combat unfair and illegal pricing schemes, a move that doubles down on recent criticism of grocery stores and other retailers for deceptively raising prices on everyday products.

The strike force will be led by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, two regulators tasked with enforcing laws against unfair, deceptive or fraudulent business practices.

"Over the last year, supply chains have returned to normal and inflation has come down, but even as prices have come down on important items like a gallon of milk and a dozen eggs, some corporations aren't passing those savings on to consumers," said Lael Brainard, director of President Joe Biden's National Economic Council, at a Monday evening press conference.

"Instead, some corporations are tacking on extra fees, hiding costs and sometimes even breaking the law," she added. "President Biden is fed up with corporate practices that unfairly raise costs for consumers, and he's taking action."

See also: Biden can win swing districts by cracking down on 'corporate price gouging'

The announcement was made ahead of a meeting of Biden's competition council, which is set to announce the finalization of a rule by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that would encourage credit-card late fees to be lowered to $8 from the current average of $31.

The council will also discuss a rule being considered by the Federal Communications Commission that would block apartment-building landlords from forcing tenants to purchase particular cable, internet or satellite services, as well as a rule from the Department of Agriculture to block purchasers of meat and poultry products from imposing deceptive contracts on farmers.

The White House estimates that actions taken by the Biden administration against so-called junk fees will lower costs for Americans by $20 billion annually.

Polling suggests that Biden and other Democrats can win support from swing voters by attacking corporations for raising prices, with a recent survey by Accountable.US showing that more than 80% of voters believe that "scams and deceptive practices" by corporations have become more common than before.

Fellow Democrat Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania is also leaning into this message as he prepares to run for reelection in November, co-sponsoring a bill with eight Democratic colleagues that would prohibit manufacturers from downsizing products while charging the same price for them, a practice known as shrinkflation.

Read more: Lawmakers want to penalize companies for 'shrinkflation' as consumers pay more for smaller packages

-Chris Matthews

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03-05-24 0500ET

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