Press Releases

Today, Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA), Chairman of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC), released the following statement in response to President Biden’s Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy:

“Over the last 30 years, the United States has experienced a rise and concentration of corporate market power that has harmed consumers, workers and small businesses.

“Across industries—including healthcare, agriculture, telecommunications, transportation, technology, and financial services—the market power of the United States’ largest companies has grown significantly, as they have essentially swallowed small businesses and erected barriers to entry for new competitors.

“Instead of furthering shared prosperity, this consolidation of corporate power has concentrated profits among the wealthiest at the top while reducing America’s economic dynamism, depressing workers’ wages, and constraining innovation. 

“President Biden’s Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy represents a major step in the right direction, advancing a whole-of-government approach to promote an economy where small businesses can compete, consumers are protected, and workers have the capacity to bargain for better pay and working conditions.

“This is what a serious executive order aimed at supporting American workers and restoring fairness to the economy looks like, and I applaud the Administration’s decisive action.”

The Joint Economic Committee will hold a hearing entitled, “A Second Gilded Age: How Concentrated Corporate Power Undermines Shared Prosperity,” on Wednesday, July 14.