President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a joint task force between the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice to crack down on “unfair and illegal” corporate pricing.
The move comes just days before Biden’s annual State of the Union address to lawmakers and is something that could be discussed during his highly anticipated speech to Congress. The task force will be co-chaired by the DOJ and the FTC, and it will investigate illegal corporate behavior that results in anti-competitive or deceptive business practices.
“[The Justice Department] and FTC, along with other agencies on the strike force, will focus their collaborative efforts on key sectors where corporations may be violating the law and keeping prices high, including prescription drugs and health care, food and grocery, housing, financial services, and more,” according to a White House news release.
On Tuesday, Biden will convene a meeting of the White House Competition Council, which his administration formed by an executive order a few months after he was sworn into office in 2021. It will be the sixth time the council has met since its formation.
The council is part of a whole-of-government approach to increase competition in industries such as healthcare, finance, technology, and transportation, among others. It is a 15-member committee that includes Cabinet secretaries and the heads of several government agencies working together to build stronger antitrust enforcement.
Biden has made competition and antitrust enforcement a major priority for his administration. In addition to the Justice Department and FTC strike force, the White House also announced Tuesday that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is issuing a new rule to force most banks to cap credit card late fees at much lower levels.
The new rule would cap all credit card late fees at $8 and would no longer index those fees to inflation. Caps for one-time late fees have risen to $30 and recurrent ones to $45. The Biden administration contends that the move will result in average savings of $220 annually for the more than 45 million consumers who end up being charged late fees.
“This rule only applies to the largest card issuers, those with over 1 million open accounts,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement. “These companies account for more than 95% of the total outstanding balances. Smaller banks and credit unions will not be affected.”
The announcements about the DOJ-FTC strike force and the new CFPB rule regarding credit card late fees are particularly notable this week because of Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday.
In the past, presidents have used the State of the Union speech to announce new initiatives and emphasize polices that have been implemented by the administration recently.
Biden’s White House has also been clamping down on so-called “junk fees.” For instance, Last year, the CFPB announced new guidance to block large banks from charging excessive or “junk” fees for providing basic customer service.
Under federal law, banks and credit unions are required to provide complete and accurate account information when requested by customers. Last year’s CFPB guidance aimed to clarify that people are not allowed to be charged fees for those basic requests.
The effort to cut fees and lower costs comes as the U.S. emerges from the worst scourge of inflation in decades. Inflation, which peaked at about 9% in 2022, has made life more unaffordable for consumers and caused them to feel as though the economy is performing poorly, despite the tight labor market, low unemployment, and robust post-pandemic economic growth.
This is the last scheduled State of the Union speech before the November presidential and congressional elections and will be a key moment for Biden to address the nation and make his case for reelection.
Notably, Biden has been getting low economic approval ratings in large part due to the nearly three years of too-high inflation. The White House team and Biden’s campaign have been working to highlight the bright spots of the economy, including low unemployment, to shore up support for Biden’s economic policies, which they have dubbed “Bidenomics.”
Despite the efforts, Biden’s approval ratings have not seen a significant bump. As of Tuesday, his overall approval rating clocked in at only about 38%, with a majority of voters disapproving of his job performance, according to an aggregation of polls by FiveThirtyEight. Additionally, more than 60% of U.S. adults disapprove of his handling of the economy, according to recent polling by Gallup.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Economic approval is a crucial metric heading into presidential contests. Political strategist James Carville coined the phrase, “It’s the economy, stupid,” to describe how Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign should focus on hitting President George H.W. Bush on the state of the economy, a strategy that proved successful.
Republicans have been hitting Biden hard. The term “Bidenflation” is a phrase often used in GOP press releases and by Republican congressional candidates on the campaign trail. The Biden campaign will have to work hard to combat Republican attacks on the economy and emphasize positive economic developments in the run-up to the coming election.
