How Biden’s actions will protect consumers
Analysis by Zachary B. Wolf, CNN
(CNN) — Democrats may have lost power in Washington in part because voters blamed them for the rising cost of goods, but when Joe Biden’s administration hands over power, it will also leave behind a series of strong new protections for consumers.
These are the kinds of actions, many of them obvious and relatively noncontroversial, by which government incrementally affects people’s everyday lives. It’s quite a list:
► Caps on annoying costs: $35 is the max monthly cost of insulin for Americans in Medicare thanks to a law passed by Democrats, and some drug makers are now expanding that price cap for even more people. There’s also a new $5 cap on overdraft fees at banks thanks to a new rule finalized by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
► Bans on efforts to hide costs from consumers: The Federal Trade Commission cracked down on junk fees for concert tickets and short-term rentals are subject to new transparency rules. Fake online reviews can lead to fines.
► Protections for travelers: Airlines are now required by the Department of Transportation to issue refunds for some cancellations and the government has created a website to compare the consumer policies of different airlines. The Federal Aviation Administration has proposed a rule to help families with children to sit together at no extra cost.
►Transparency in cable and internet bills: New Federal Communications Commission rules will make it easier for people to figure out what they’re being charged “all-in” in cable bills and a “nutrition label” to demystify internet service provider bills.
► A crackdown on scam texts: The FCC is also requiring mobile service providers to block some text messages from suspicious sources.
► A better way to unsubscribe: The FTC is requiring that subscriptions bought online must include a “click to cancel” option online.
Even in the waning days of the Biden administration, there are more happening. CFPB is working to remove medical debt from most credit reports, although that rule finalized in early January is already the subject of a lawsuit. The Wall Street Journal also reported Monday the FTC would sue the country’s largest landlord, Greystar Real Estate Partners, alleging deceptive pricing practices.
When I asked Teresa Murray, consumer watchdog director at Public Interest Research Group, how the landscape has changed over the past four years, she was ready with a list of developments and the argument that things have moved in the right direction.
“I would say that being a consumer in the United States has become a lot more transparent, or it’s on the path to becoming more transparent, and that’s a very good thing,” Murray said.
Susan Weinstock, CEO of the Consumer Federation of America, went a step further.
“I would say that that President Biden has been the the strongest consumer protection president we’ve probably ever had,” she told me, arguing the Biden administration went all out to fix “the conundrums that consumers find themselves in when they’re trying to make everyday decisions in their lives about airline tickets, or tickets to live events, or banking.”
The measures have been enacted in a variety of ways, such as passing new laws, as with the cap on the cost of insulin in Medicare or some of the airline-related reimbursement rules.
But most have been done through rulemaking, the process whereby a government agency proposes a rule, hears from the public over the course of months, and then engages in a rulemaking process, which takes time and is subject to lawsuits.
Undoing such rules does not happen overnight and there’s no indication that Trump will look to claw back any of these presumably popular measures.
But he does want to reorganize the government. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, one of the co-leaders of Trump’s government efficiency efforts, has said he wants to “delete” the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The agency, the brainchild of now-Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, was created by law during President Barack Obama’s administration in response to the 2008 financial system meltdown. The Supreme Court this year saved the CFPB from extinction when it brushed aside a lawsuit from a group of payday lenders.
CFPB rules are frequently challenged in court. A rule to cap many credit card late fees at $8 is on hold due to a lawsuit in Texas.
Additionally, Trump generally opposes rules meant to address climate change, and has promised to reverse fuel economy standards for cars and trucks. When he grumbled about water pressure during a Mar-a-Lago press conference, he may have been referencing a new Biden administration rule designed to make water heaters more efficient beginning in 2029. The Department of Energy argues it will save consumers money on utility costs, but it could also drive up the cost of new water heaters.
Trump also pushed for consumer protections during his first term, as CNN’s Tami Luhby reminded me. The No Surprises Act was passed by Congress at the end of Trump’s term, although it took effect after Biden became president.
That law, which aimed to ban unexpected medical charges from out-of-network providers, is also an example of how something that has broad support can take years to get through Congress.
Murray said the pro-consumer rules like eliminating junk fees and creating transparency in reviews are the kinds of things that have been a long time coming and have bipartisan support. She argued that honest businesses shouldn’t mind them because it levels the playing field in the marketplace.
“They just want to do it all fairly. They want to do it honestly. They want to do it with transparency, and if all of the bad actors are squashed and required to play by the same rules,” she said.
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