The Chamber of Commerce is pushing the Senate to kill portions of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill that would grant the Democratic-run Federal Trade Commission more civil penalty authority that it says would hurt businesses and consumers.
Certain provisions in Biden’s $2.4 trillion spending bill “would create an unprecedented and unjustified broad civil penalty authority” for the commission under Section 5 of the FTC Act, the chamber wrote in a letter to senators on Thursday.
The authority would grant the FTC the ability to levy costly fines, up to approximately $44,000 per violation per affected consumer, for alleged violations of the FTC Act, which outlaws unfair instances of anti-competitive or monopolistic behavior. Liberals say the FTC needs the authority to levy first-time civil penalties because existing law limits financial penalties to companies that are already under a consent decree or have gone through a lengthy administrative process — meaning that first-time violators can get away with a slap on the wrist.
“This would constitute a major policy shift in FTC enforcement authority that would unfairly erode due process and would impose significant new costs on companies acting in good faith when serving consumers,” the chamber wrote in the letter, which was signed by 90 others, including the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the National Restaurant Association, and tech association NetChoice.
DEMOCRATIC TOP REGULATOR SAYS BREAKING UP BIG TECH COULD A GOOD, ‘CONSERVATIVE’ SOLUTION
The chamber said the new FTC authority could create a chilling effect on industry innovation in goods and services, particularly among smaller companies that lack the resources to fight such fines.
The chamber, which is the largest lobbying group in the United States and represents millions of businesses and organizations, said the authority could cost businesses and consumers billions of dollars, far exceeding the revenue gains of the relevant provisions within the Build Back Better Act that are projected by the FTC and the Congressional Budget Office.
In July, Democrats at the trade commission voted to expand the limits and powers of the agency, particularly when it comes to policing corporate conduct.
The Democrats at the FTC said at the time that the agency needs to do a better job of living up to the statutory obligations that its been given from Congress to stop monopolistic behavior and challenge anti-competitive conduct.
For the past few decades, antitrust laws have focused on protecting consumers from anti-competitive mergers and business practices, and the two Republican commissioners at the agency said the agency’s expansion of power could take the commission away from this consumer-focused tradition and lead it to overstep its bounds.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The chamber also announced Thursday that it will be launching a six-figure ad campaign to highlight recent wrongdoings by the FTC.
