Warren Proposes Giving U.S. FTC Power to Probe Price Gouging

(Bloomberg) -- Senator Elizabeth Warren says she's writing a bill that would empower the Federal Trade Commission to investigate price gouging on products from food to fuel, which she said would bring immediate relief to families.

“Do you realize FTC, bless them, the ones that are out there, they're supposed to be enforcing our anti-trust laws along with the DOJ, they don't think they have the power to go after price gouging?” Warren said Wednesday at an event in Washington. “They have other practices, sales practices, trading practices that they can go after, but not price gouging.”

The bill would require the support of at least 10 Republicans in the evenly divided Senate, an unlikely prospect considering GOP lawmakers blame high prices on Democratic policies.

Warren said the bill would give the FTC direct authority to go after price-gouging in several sectors, including the meat, grocery and oil industries. The Massachusetts Democrat said companies have used increased demand related to the pandemic, and rising prices as excuses to hike prices and increase their profit margins.

Spokeswomen for Warren did not immediately respond to a request for details about the legislation, which has not yet been made public. Warren said the bill has many co-sponsors.

The legislation would give the FTC even broader powers than those in a plan Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer released last month to go after gasoline price manipulation. That bill faces similarly long odds in the Senate.

These efforts come as the U.S. annual inflation rate hits 8.5% and the average price for per gallon price of gasoline has risen to $4.20. Democrats in Congress are seeking ways to tame price hikes ahead of the November mid-term elections as rising costs become a top concern for voters.

“We are losing competition in markets,” Warren said. “The consequence of that is that you do have pricing power. Companies recognize this, so part of the problems with this is when you own the space, you determine the prices.”

Warren said she supports coupling the enhanced FTC authority with a new tax on corporations with profit margins higher than pre-pandemic levels. Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island have led long-shot efforts in Congress to impose steep levies on corporations that are more profitable than they were in 2019.