{"id":426,"date":"2021-07-20T12:09:04","date_gmt":"2021-07-20T16:09:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/articles\/house-take-key-vote-protect-consumers-today\/"},"modified":"2022-08-06T06:47:19","modified_gmt":"2022-08-06T10:47:19","slug":"house-to-take-key-vote-to-protect-consumers-today","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/articles\/house-to-take-key-vote-to-protect-consumers-today\/","title":{"rendered":"House to take key vote to protect consumers today"},"featured_media":12516,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":false,"_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":""},"campaign_tax":[183],"display_option":[],"issue_tax":[],"person_tax":[],"region_tax":[],"state":[7,8,9,12,13,16,18,23,24,25,28,29,2,32,33,34,36,38,40,41,42,46,50,52],"topic_tax":[154],"class_list":["post-426","article","type-article","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"details":{"helper_taxonomies":{"topics":[154],"collection":false,"press_type":false,"person_type":false,"resource_type":false,"event_type":false,"campaigns":183,"department":false,"level":false,"states":[2,7,8,9,12,13,16,18,23,24,25,28,29,32,33,34,36,38,40,41,42,46,50,52],"act_option":false,"display_option":false,"primary":{"topic":154}},"featured_image":12516,"caption_override":"","excerpt":"Today, the U.S. House takes a key vote. HR2668, the\u00a0Consumer Protection and Recovery Act, would restore the FTC's Section 13(b) authority to hold wrongdoers accountable and compensate consumer-victims harmed by their actions. The Supreme Court had recently ruled that the power, used for over 40 years to recover billions, was not clearly articulated in law.\nCover photo via Flickr by Mr. Blue MauMau, some rights reserved.","updated_on":null,"sidebar_action":null,"hide_hero_image":false,"sidebar_action_query_string":""},"helper_people_group":{"title":"Authors","entities":[{"type":"dynamic","dynamic_person":{"site":4,"people":"192"},"information":{"name":"","image":null,"role":"","biography":"","contact":{"twitter":"","facebook":"","email":"","phone":""}}}]},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"

Today, the U.S. House takes a key vote. HR2668, (Cardenas-CA), the\u00a0Consumer Protection and Recovery Act, would restore the FTC\u2019s Section 13(b) authority to hold wrongdoers accountable and compensate consumer-victims harmed by their actions. The Supreme Court had recently ruled that the power, used for over 40 years to recover billions, was not clearly articulated in law. Here is an excerpt from a\u00a0group letter<\/a> to Congress from U.S. PIRG and other consumer and civil rights groups in support of HR 2668:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cFor decades, the FTC relied on Section 13(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act to hold bad actors accountable when they violate the law. Under 13(b), the FTC has returned their ill-gotten gains to harmed consumers and small businesses.\u00a0Since July 2018, it has returned $11.5 billion to nearly 10 million people across the country. \u00a0However, the Supreme Court\u2019s recent decision in\u00a0AMG Capital Management, LLC, et al. v. Federal Trade Commission\u00a0has seriously compromised this valuable law enforcement tool.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As I noted in a recent blog<\/a>, AMG is the company controlled by convicted payday loan kingpin Scott Tucker:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cDisappointingly, this SCOTUS ruling both harms the victims of his illegal schemes and leaves the door open for other bad actors \u2014 fraudsters, scammers, prescription drug companies, payday lenders, tech companies, credit bureaus \u2014 virtually any violator of the FTC Act, to follow his lead without fear of serious financial repercussions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Passing HR2668 into law is a critical step to reinstate FTC power to recover funds from wrongdoers and compensate victims. Ideally, the House and then Senate will pass it. Section 13(b) has been used by the commission for over 40 years, under both Republican and Democratic commissioners.<\/p>\n

Congress can do more to strengthen the FTC. Last week, we supported Rep. Kathy Castor (FL) in the introduction of her 21st Century FTC Act. As I said in her release<\/a>:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cU.S. PIRG supports Rep. Castor\u2019s bill to give the FTC streamlined rulemaking authority and the power to impose civil penalties for first\u00a0violations of the FTC Act. U.S. PIRG has long supported removing the shackles of Magnuson-Moss rulemaking, which is unique to the FTC and prevents it from policing the marketplace,\u00a0and also taking away industry\u2019s favorite \u201cfirst bite of the apple is free\u201d clause, which has allowed wrongdoers both to avoid sanctions and then negotiate sweetheart settlements. It\u2019s not any way to run a law enforcement agency.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

You may recall that when the FTC, CFPB and state Attorneys General recently took action against and fined Facebook an (inadequate) $5 billion for its wrongdoing, that fine was due solely to the powers of the CFPB and states, not the FTC. Unless a company is under sanction for violating an existing FTC order (there was none), the FTC generally cannot impose civil penalties.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Further, as I testified<\/a>\u00a0in 2010 to the Senate Commerce Committee<\/a>, unsuccessfully urging that the FTC also be strengthened in what became the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the FTC\u2019s unique, \u00a0time-consuming, limited rulemaking authority constrains its ability to protect consumers and police the wide marketplace it is responsible for:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cFirst, the Obama proposal as enacted in the House passed bill changes the FTC\u2019s cumbersome Magnuson Moss rulemaking process to the more prevalent Administrative Procedures Act (APA) rulemaking process used by other agencies.\u00a0In his recent testimony to this committee, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz called Magnuson-Moss rulemaking both \u201cdraconian\u201d and \u201cmedieval.\u201d He was not being redundant.\u00a0As many have noted, the FTC\u2019s inability to swiftly enact predatory mortgage lending rules was a contributor to the mortgage meltdown.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Representative Castor\u2019s 21st Century FTC Act would add important tools to this under-funded, under-resourced agency that fights with one hand tied behind its back. Shouldn\u2019t we give new FTC Chair Lina Khan and her colleagues all the tools that they need to fight both bottom-feeder scammers and also BigTech, big bank, BigPharma and other monopolies and oligoplies? Markets need rules and the FTC needs the tools to enforce them. \u00a0Today, the House should approve HR2668; but Congress should not forget the 21st Century FTC Act.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/body><\/html>","":null}}]},"yoast_head":"\nHouse to take key vote to protect consumers today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Today, the U.S. House takes a key vote. HR2668, the\u00a0Consumer Protection and Recovery Act, would restore the FTC's Section 13(b) authority to hold wrongdoers accountable and compensate consumer-victims harmed by their actions. The Supreme Court had recently ruled that the power, used for over 40 years to recover billions, was not clearly articulated in law. Cover photo via Flickr by Mr. Blue MauMau, some rights reserved.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/articles\/house-to-take-key-vote-to-protect-consumers-today\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"House to take key vote to protect consumers today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today, the U.S. House takes a key vote. HR2668, the\u00a0Consumer Protection and Recovery Act, would restore the FTC's Section 13(b) authority to hold wrongdoers accountable and compensate consumer-victims harmed by their actions. The Supreme Court had recently ruled that the power, used for over 40 years to recover billions, was not clearly articulated in law. Cover photo via Flickr by Mr. Blue MauMau, some rights reserved.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/articles\/house-to-take-key-vote-to-protect-consumers-today\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Georgia PIRG\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-06T10:47:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/FTC_night-1024x576.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t \"@graph\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"NewsArticle\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/dev.pirg-test.com\\\/georgia\\\/articles\\\/house-to-take-key-vote-to-protect-consumers-today\\\/\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/dev.pirg-test.com\\\/georgia\\\/articles\\\/house-to-take-key-vote-to-protect-consumers-today\\\/\",\n\t \"name\": \"House to take key vote to protect consumers today\",\n\t \"isPartOf\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/dev.pirg-test.com\\\/georgia\\\/#website\"\n\t },\n\t \"image\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/dev.pirg-test.com\\\/georgia\\\/articles\\\/house-to-take-key-vote-to-protect-consumers-today\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t },\n\t \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/dev.tpin-test.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/FTC_night.png\",\n\t \"datePublished\": \"2021-07-20T16:09:04+00:00\",\n\t \"dateModified\": null,\n\t \"description\": \"Today, the U.S. House takes a key vote. HR2668, the\u00a0Consumer Protection and Recovery Act, would restore the FTC's Section 13(b) authority to hold wrongdoers accountable and compensate consumer-victims harmed by their actions. The Supreme Court had recently ruled that the power, used for over 40 years to recover billions, was not clearly articulated in law. Cover photo via Flickr by Mr. Blue MauMau, some rights reserved.\",\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"potentialAction\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t \"target\": [\n\t \"https:\\\/\\\/dev.pirg-test.com\\\/georgia\\\/articles\\\/house-to-take-key-vote-to-protect-consumers-today\\\/\"\n\t ]\n\t }\n\t ],\n\t \"headline\": \"House to take key vote to protect consumers today\",\n\t \"publisher\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t \"name\": \"Georgia PIRG\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/dev.pirg-test.com\\\/georgia\"\n\t },\n\t \"author\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t \"name\": \"Ed Mierzwinski\",\n\t \"jobTitle\": \"Senior Director, Federal Consumer Program, PIRG\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/dev.pirg-test.com\\\/people\\\/ed-mierzwinski\\\/\"\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/dev.pirg-test.com\\\/georgia\\\/articles\\\/house-to-take-key-vote-to-protect-consumers-today\\\/#primaryimage\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/dev.tpin-test.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/FTC_night.png\",\n\t \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/dev.tpin-test.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/FTC_night.png\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/dev.pirg-test.com\\\/georgia\\\/articles\\\/house-to-take-key-vote-to-protect-consumers-today\\\/#breadcrumb\",\n\t \"itemListElement\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t \"position\": 1,\n\t \"name\": \"Home\",\n\t \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/dev.pirg-test.com\\\/georgia\\\/\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t \"position\": 2,\n\t \"name\": \"House to take key vote to protect consumers today\"\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/dev.pirg-test.com\\\/georgia\\\/#website\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/dev.pirg-test.com\\\/georgia\\\/\",\n\t \"name\": \"Georgia PIRG\",\n\t \"description\": \"\",\n\t \"potentialAction\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t \"target\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\\\/\\\/dev.pirg-test.com\\\/georgia\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t },\n\t \"query-input\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t }\n\t }\n\t ],\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"House to take key vote to protect consumers today","description":"Today, the U.S. House takes a key vote. HR2668, the\u00a0Consumer Protection and Recovery Act, would restore the FTC's Section 13(b) authority to hold wrongdoers accountable and compensate consumer-victims harmed by their actions. The Supreme Court had recently ruled that the power, used for over 40 years to recover billions, was not clearly articulated in law. Cover photo via Flickr by Mr. Blue MauMau, some rights reserved.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/articles\/house-to-take-key-vote-to-protect-consumers-today\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"House to take key vote to protect consumers today","og_description":"Today, the U.S. House takes a key vote. HR2668, the\u00a0Consumer Protection and Recovery Act, would restore the FTC's Section 13(b) authority to hold wrongdoers accountable and compensate consumer-victims harmed by their actions. The Supreme Court had recently ruled that the power, used for over 40 years to recover billions, was not clearly articulated in law. Cover photo via Flickr by Mr. Blue MauMau, some rights reserved.","og_url":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/articles\/house-to-take-key-vote-to-protect-consumers-today\/","og_site_name":"Georgia PIRG","article_modified_time":"2022-08-06T10:47:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/FTC_night-1024x576.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/articles\/house-to-take-key-vote-to-protect-consumers-today\/","url":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/articles\/house-to-take-key-vote-to-protect-consumers-today\/","name":"House to take key vote to protect consumers today","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/#website"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/articles\/house-to-take-key-vote-to-protect-consumers-today\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dev.tpin-test.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/FTC_night.png","datePublished":"2021-07-20T16:09:04+00:00","dateModified":null,"description":"Today, the U.S. House takes a key vote. HR2668, the\u00a0Consumer Protection and Recovery Act, would restore the FTC's Section 13(b) authority to hold wrongdoers accountable and compensate consumer-victims harmed by their actions. The Supreme Court had recently ruled that the power, used for over 40 years to recover billions, was not clearly articulated in law. Cover photo via Flickr by Mr. Blue MauMau, some rights reserved.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/articles\/house-to-take-key-vote-to-protect-consumers-today\/"]}],"headline":"House to take key vote to protect consumers today","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Georgia PIRG","url":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia"},"author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ed Mierzwinski","jobTitle":"Senior Director, Federal Consumer Program, PIRG","url":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/people\/ed-mierzwinski\/"}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/articles\/house-to-take-key-vote-to-protect-consumers-today\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dev.tpin-test.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/FTC_night.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dev.tpin-test.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/FTC_night.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/articles\/house-to-take-key-vote-to-protect-consumers-today\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"House to take key vote to protect consumers today"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/","name":"Georgia PIRG","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Georgia PIRG","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/426\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"campaign_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campaign_tax?post=426"},{"taxonomy":"display_option","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display_option?post=426"},{"taxonomy":"issue_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_tax?post=426"},{"taxonomy":"person_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/person_tax?post=426"},{"taxonomy":"region_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region_tax?post=426"},{"taxonomy":"state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/state?post=426"},{"taxonomy":"topic_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic_tax?post=426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}