Successful Biden-Harris Efforts Toward A Corporate Crackdown
A Pre-Election Week Review
We reviewed efforts at five agencies (DOL, NLRB, SEC, CFPB, and FTC) toward using existing enforcement powers to crack down on corporate wrongdoing, highlighting successful enforcement actions with real impact on our daily lives. Over the past four years, these critical (if not always public-facing) executive branch agencies have made significant strides toward reversing the deregulatory efforts of the Trump administration, while pushing protections for workers and consumers further.
These successes should inspire confidence in the potential for a progressive administration to wield the administrative state to lower prices, increase wages, and improve workplace conditions—issues we know voters prioritize. However, the sometimes-obscure nature of rule-making and enforcement of existing regulations means there’s more to be done to publicize the positive impacts of these agencies’ work.
We think that should change. When people hear “SEC,” instead of their eyes glazing over (or thoughts turning to the implications of Nick Saban’s retirement), they should be thinking about rich bankers trying to cheat the system to line their pockets, and being hit with fines in the hundreds of millions of dollars. When they hear “DoL,” they should think of the bureaucrats going toe to toe with Amazon and Dollar General for pushing people into unsafe working conditions and being forced to pay fines and make changes. “NLRB” should be synonymous with jobs being reinstated at union-busting employers like Starbucks, and millions of dollars in back pay being disbursed, while “CFPB” should signal successful crackdowns on Wells Fargo, JP Morgan, and other large banks’ cartoonishly evil ploys, like stealing homes, cars, and cash from people and thinking they’ll get away with it.
In addition to reviewing their accomplishments, this week’s newsletter outlines a path for improved messaging from nongovernmental apparatuses to highlight the wins where they can.
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
The NLRB is an independent federal agency charged with supporting workers in organizing for better working conditions, and empowered to “prevent and remedy unfair labor practices” by employers. As my colleague KJ Boyle wrote in our review of the Biden-Harris NLRB, the agency “has been an active regulator under the Biden administration, helping shift the balance of power in labor relations to empower workers.”
Highlights from the National Labor Relations Board included:
Rescinding a number of Trump-era rules and rulings that had narrowed the definition of “protected activities” for employees seeking to organize and slowed union elections, among other anti-union tactics;
Taking enforcement actions against Starbucks, Amazon, UPS, Dollar General, and other large corporations for wrongfully firing employees over pro-union sentiment and organizing activities, including reinstating employees; and
Securing back pay for Starbucks employees whose hours were illegally cut and for DirecTV employees who were illegally fired.
Department of Labor (DoL)
The DoL is responsible for assuring the benefits and rights of workers and improving their working conditions among other duties. As KJ summarizes, the Biden-Harris Labor Department “has been prolific in using its rulemaking abilities to protect workers and increase wages while using its investigative and enforcement authority to hold bad corporate actors accountable.”
Highlights included:
Rolling back Trump-era rules and regulations that had broadened the definition of independent contractors and stopped DoL from fining employers for tip violations;
Increasing the overtime pay threshold for salary workers;
Proposing a Heat Injury and Illness Prevention rule that would require further employer protection around heat hazards in the workplace;
Fining Amazon and Dollar General, among other corporations, for maintaining unsafe working conditions;
And suing Hyundai, Subway, and other companies for violating child labor laws.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The SEC aims to “protect investors; maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets; and facilitate capital formation.” In practice, they target companies and executives engaging in fraud and misleading investors and the public about their practices.
As my colleague Jacob Plaza wrote, under the Biden-Harris administration, the “SEC engaged in record-setting enforcement actions,” recovering unprecedented amounts in penalties targeting large corporations, and taking action against a record number of executives for their personal roles in fraudulent business practices.
Highlights from the SEC included:
Recovering a record $6.4 billion in penalties in 2022;
SEC Chair Gary Gensler approving more new rules in his first term than the previous two SEC chairs combined;
Charging numerous crypto firms for defrauding consumers;
And charging banks and large corporations including Boeing, JPMorgan, and Wells Fargo with regulatory infractions, resulting in the collection of hundreds of millions of dollars in fines.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
The CFPB “implements and enforces Federal consumer financial law and ensures that markets for consumer financial products are fair, transparent, and competitive.”
Biden’s CFPB director, Rohit Chopra, has made tackling junk fees a core focus during his tenure, building a profile and generating corporate pushback in the process. As my colleague Will Royce wrote, “Chopra…has facilitated a resurgence in consumer relief won through enforcement actions relative to the Trump years [while weathering] industry-driven challenges to the agency’s constitutionality,” which the Supreme Court recently resolved in the agency’s favor.
Highlights from the CFPB included:
Proposed rules limiting credit card late fees, banning medical bills from credit reports, and limiting revolving door misconduct involving former regulators being hired by corporations;
Levying billions of dollars in fines and penalties on Wells Fargo for illegally repossessing consumers’ cars and wrongfully foreclosing on some borrowers’ homes, with devastating consequences for families and individuals;
And fining Bank of America billions for misuse of overdraft fees and opening fake credit card accounts under consumers’ names without their consent.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
With the motto “protecting America’s consumers,” the FTC is responsible for “protecting the public from deceptive or unfair business practices and from unfair methods of competition,” and under Biden’s FTC Chair Lina Khan, the agency has been enthusiastic in carrying out this mission.
As my colleague KJ wrote, “[Khan and the FTC] have been the target of endless Wall Street Journal hit pieces and antagonistic lobbying from billionaires hoping to cut short Khan’s tenure at the helm of the consumer protection agency. This is not a coincidence. Under Khan’s leadership, the small agency has punched well above its weight by writing cogent rules to protect consumers, blocking anticompetitive mergers, and bringing enforcement actions to punish illegal corporate practices.”
Highlights from the FTC include:
Challenging corporate giants including Walmart, Amazon, Kroger, and Microsoft over uncompetitive practices and fraudulent schemes that cost consumers millions;
Returning over $300 million to consumers through enforcement actions in 2023 alone;
And finalizing a rule to “ban bait-and-switch tactics and junk fees used by car dealerships, which were costing consumers an estimated $3.4 billion each year.”
Making Common-Sense Messaging…Common Sense
As these summaries demonstrate, the Biden-Harris executive branch took significant steps to reign in excessive corporate power over consumers, workers, and the public at large, addressing not just small inconveniences but significant, life-changing protections over workplace and financial security that affect the majority of us.
However, with some notable exceptions—e.g. more vocal press campaigns by CFPB Director Chopra and FTC Chair Lina Khan, at times—agencies spend less energy advertising their wins than doing the work to secure them. Most federal agencies have relatively small staffs, and are by design more focused on fulfilling their mandates than on publicizing their work—as they should be!
This represents a real missed opportunity, as advertising agency successes can’t be the job of agencies alone. The Democratic party apparatus, much more structured to be shaping voters’ understanding of what an administration has accomplished, has done far too little to leverage these accomplishments to drive voter support. An administration that wants to convince voters of the impact of their time in office, and demonstrate the value of re-electing them, must be focused on creating a cohesive narrative that connects sometimes niche or technical-seeming enforcement actions to concrete positive impacts on their daily lives.
If the Biden-Haris administration made more strategic asks, they could direct the messaging and communications structures of the White House communications team, the DNC, and numerous center-left PACs and political organizations to highlight granular but impactful wins like those listed in our successes series. Following our corporate crackdown framework, they could pick fights with the corporate heavy hitters agencies are tackling—Amazon, Boeing, major banks and airlines—and generate support by publicly taking sides with consumers and workers against extractive and abusive corporations stealing their wages, overcharging them, and exposing them to unsafe working and living conditions.
Indeed, our Max Moran wrote an article urging such a shift in trajectory from Biden Administration/Harris campaign communications guru Anita Dunn and Biden Chief of Staff Jeffrey Zients in March. Alas, we could not bring any discernible change in approach–and campaign operative turned Silicon Valley denizen David Plouffe has shown no greater zeal to highlight this sort of governing populism since taking over the Harris campaign.
Win or lose, the center-left and progressives are due to have a big fight about how Donald Trump’s appeal could endure as long as it has. Our take remains consistent: An earned media strategy to remind consumers, workers, and all voters what an executive branch staffed by progressives has to offer would be wise, even if it pisses off billionaires.
Follow the Revolving Door Project’s work on whatever platform works for you! You can find us on that website formerly known as Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram, and Facebook.
Want more? Check out some of the pieces that we have published or contributed research or thoughts to in the last week:
To Reach Millions Of Tenants, Walz Should Talk About Housing More
State Insurance Commissioners Are Far Too Important to Ignore
Report: Gas Industry Ramps Up Deceptive Effort to Influence Democrats
Heritage Lays The Foundation For Schedule F
Politico: They were lobbying on legislation before his committee. They were also employing his son.
WaPo: Tony West, Harris’s brother-in-law, is corporate insider and campaign adviser
Wow! You are so right. These gains don't get enough publicity. Thanks for this. So much for the cynical assessment that there's no real difference between the two parties.
Yeah, sure.
And Trump is still "fighting" the elite.
Two corporate political parties continuing to claim they're working for the "commoners".