John Hickenlooper

Great. Thank you very much. I thank all of you. Appreciate you spending the time.

Well, and you are not even talking about the context of AI, and it is--that is going to be a separate hearing, but that is coming.

Absolutely. Well, I appreciate all of your time and all of your work.

You know, the thing I would add to that, that we have had from--heard from roundtables, especially with older consumers when they are working online, there is a level of frustration where they get to a certain point and they are faced with…

Yes, certainly the oftentimes many industries, in anticipation of legislation, move to be in compliance before the legislation is passed.

We are, I think, all agree that customers benefit from transparent upfront pricing.

Small businesses are the backbone of our country and the backbone of our economy.

If every company displayed all in, upfront pricing to consumers, small and large businesses would have a more level playing field.

I think junk fees sometimes is the wrong term because it does sound pejorative.

We would urge you to support S. 916 it is the Junk Fee Prevention Act.

Action to address the consumer and competitive harm created by junk fees is urgently needed.

Thank you, Ms. Morwitz. I appreciate you taking the time to be with us.

I call this hearing to order. Welcome. This is our first hearing this Congress of the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security.

I look forward to working with Senator Blackburn and make sure that this is a bipartisan effort to make progress on issues that are within the jurisdiction of this subcommittee.

Statement of Senator Hickenlooper

I want to thank my colleagues, both who were here and were online.

Absolutely. Well, I appreciate all of your time and all of your work.

If every company displayed all in, upfront pricing to consumers, small and large businesses would have a more level playing field.

We had FTC members here, both Democrat and Republican nominees. They all said we needed to replace that.

Yes, certainly the oftentimes many industries, in anticipation of legislation, move to be in compliance before the legislation is passed.

Action to address the consumer and competitive harm created by junk fees is urgently needed.

Small businesses are the backbone of our country and the backbone of our economy.

We would urge you to support S. 916 it is the Junk Fee Prevention Act.

Hearing held on June 8, 2023

Well, and you are not even talking about the context of AI, and it is--that is going to be a separate hearing, but that is coming.