Price Gouging Prevention Act cracks down on excessive price increases
Vice President Harris endorsed Casey’s price gouging bill in economic speech today
Since fall 2023, Senator Casey has produced four reports detailing his investigations into corporate greed squeezing families’ budgets
Washington, D.C. –U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) applauded growing support for his Price Gouging Prevention Act, including from Vice President Kamala Harris today. This legislation would crack down on corporate price gouging and protect American families from greedflation by creating a new federal ban on grossly excessive price increases and authorizing the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and state attorneys general to enforce the ban. Since November 2023, Senator Casey has been investigating corporate price gouging and other actions by big corporations that have squeezed the budgets of American families.
“Families are sick and tired of being squeezed by giant corporations that are jacking up their prices and raking in record profits. I call it greedflation, and I’m fighting back. This critical legislation will crack down on big corporations and finally prohibit price gouging,” said Senator Casey. “It’s about damn time that we hold corporations accountable for ripping off hardworking American families.”
The Price Gouging Prevention Act fights back against corporations that take advantage of American families and prey on consumers through greedflation. This commonsense legislation mirrors a similar Pennsylvania law against “unconscionably excessive” price gouging, which is not yet banned at the national level. During the COVID-19 pandemic, big corporations raised their prices by even more than necessary to cover increases in their costs—hiding behind inflation and supply chain disruptions to do it. Now that the market shock of the pandemic has abated and the inflation rates is below 3% for the first time since 2021, corporations’ costs are coming down and profits are rising. But for American families, prices remain high. This legislation would not only ban price gouging but would grant the FTC and state attorneys general the authority to enforce the law.
Since November 2023, Senator Casey has been investigating corporate price gouging. In February, the New York Times featured Senator Casey’s investigation into shrinkflation. In June, Casey sent letters to Target, Walmart, and Amazon to demand they disclose information about how they have made pricing decisions over the last two years. In July, Senator Casey held a hearing where Pennsylvanians testified about how price gouging is hurting their families’ budgets. Earlier this month, Senator Casey sounded alarms about Kroger Supermarket’s use of dynamic pricing to surge grocery prices and exploit working families.
In February 2024, Senator Casey expressed concern about the Wendy’s Company’s plans to switch to surge pricing. He highlighted how changing menu prices based on time of day unfairly penalized working American Families. Wendy’s subsequently backtracked on its surge pricing proposal. The same month, Casey also introduced two pieces of legislation to protect American families from greedflation and shrinkflation. The Price Gouging Prevention Act would protect American families from greedflation by banning grossly excessive price increases and cracking down on corporations that engage in price gouging. The Shrinkflation Prevention Act, would empower the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general to crack down on corporations that deceive consumers by selling smaller sizes of their products without lowering the prices.
Senator Casey has released four reports in his greedflation series. His first report, “Greedflation: How Corporations Are Making Record Profits on the Backs of American Families,” details how big corporations are using inflation as cover to raise prices and rake in record profits at the expense of middle-class American families and laying out Senator Casey’s vision to hold greedy corporations accountable. Casey’s second report “Stuffing Their Pockets: How Big Food and Agriculture Businesses Are Making Your Holiday Meals More Expensive," examines how the agribusiness companies that process Americans’ food have increased prices for everyday staple foods and raising questions about why those price increases are necessary, particularly during the holiday season. Casey’s third report, “Less Bang for Your Buck: Casey Releases Shrinkflation Report Exposing Big Corporations for Reducing Product Size While Keeping Prices High,” calls out household consumer products, food, and beverage corporations for reducing the size of household consumer goods, from toilet paper to cereals to snacks, while continuing to sell them at the same retail price. Casey’s fourth report, “Additional Charges May Apply: How Big Corporations Use Hidden Fees to Nickel, Dime, and Deceive American Families” details how big corporations are tacking on excessive fees at the tail end of everyday purchases, from internet plans to ATM withdrawals.
Senator Casey has also released two spotlight reports in his greedflation series. Earlier this month, Casey released a spotlight, “A Steady Stream of Price Hikes: How Streaming Services,” detailing how streaming platforms charge more for subscriptions and are delivering less to consumers. In April, Casey released a greedflation spotlight, “The Pink Tax: How Companies Tack Extra Costs on Women in the Age of Greedflation,” which details how corporate greed has disproportionately harmed the budgets of women.
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