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President Biden again used the bully pulpit of his office to highlight the danger of “junk fees” to the U.S. economy, hammering away at the relatively narrow issue that has become a White House staple.
Junk fees are unexpected or hidden costs tacked on to plane and concert tickets, hotel rooms, cellphone bills and other transactions.
Speaking from the Rose Garden, Mr. Biden unveiled his latest proposed rule. This one would ban businesses from charging hidden or misleading fees and require companies to show full prices upfront.
Since October 2022, Mr. Biden has delivered at least four speeches focused on junk fees, including two in the last six months.
The president has also spoken about the issue in general remarks on the economy, at meetings of his Competition Council and dedicated several paragraphs to the topic in his State of the Union address.
Mr. Biden remained laser-focused on the issue Tuesday, even as crises mount overseas following the Hamas terror attack on Israel, which included an unknown number of Americans being held hostage.
“Joe Biden is trying to change the news cycle while Hamas terrorists commit atrocities in Israel, 22 Americans are dead, families of those kidnapped are pleading for help, and Iran is pocketing $6 billion in U.S. tax dollars. Biden’s policies are junk and Americans are ready to take out the trash,” said RNC spokesperson Anna Kelly.
The White House argues that the attention paid to junk fees is part of Mr. Biden’s overall economic agenda because it bolsters the hidden class. They say it eases the stress of inflation, which has slowed in recent months but still remains high. By making it a pocketbook issue, Mr. Biden hopes it will appeal to voters who are still skeptical of his handling of the economy.
The president’s new proposal would not limit what sellers can charge but would require vendors to disclose final costs upfront and empower the Federal Trade Commission to fine companies that don’t comply.
Consumers have saved roughly $2 billion in savings and $140 million in consumer refunds through the administration’s crackdowns on junk fees, the White House said.
“These junk fees can add up to hundreds of dollars, weighing down family budgets, making it harder to pay family bills,” Mr. Biden said. “These junk fees may not matter to the wealthy, but they sure matter to working-class homes like the one I grew up in.”
Some Republicans have pushed back on the effort to crack down on junk fees by arguing it is a form of socialism through price controls.
“We need solutions for the American people. And it’s not a bunch of fees that will be eliminated by the president chatting fee control, income control, price control. It sounds more like socialism than free markets and capitalism that led to the lowest level of poverty, frankly, in the history of our country just a few years ago,” said Sen. Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican running the party’s 2024 presidential nomination.
Polls show overwhelmingly bipartisan support for eliminating junk fees, with 64% of independents and 62% of Republicans supporting the White House’s proposals, according to a survey by polling company Navigator. Overall, 75% of Americans oppose junk fees.
Yet, it rarely comes up when pollsters ask voters to name the most important issues in the country today. It doesn’t even register on a Newsweek tracker poll, which asks Americans to name their top issue ahead of the 2024 election.
The White House disputes that the issue isn’t a priority for voters, arguing that it is part of their broader economic concerns. The Newsweek poll lists the economy as voters’ top issue heading into 2024, followed by healthcare and immigration.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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