WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights,today joined U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) in introducing the Fair Prices for Local Businesses Act, legislation that would bring down prices for American families and support small businesses by cracking down on corporate price discrimination. 

“Vermont’s small businesses are the backbone of our economy, but they can’t compete when they’re forced to pay more than big retailers for the same goods and services. That kind of price discrimination squeezes local businesses and raises costs for consumers,” said Senator Welch. “The Fair Prices for Local Businesses Act helps level the playing field and holds bad actors accountable.” 

“For decades, corporations have been allowed to break the law and rig the system to make small businesses pay higher prices for the exact same products,” said Senator Murphy. “Their goal was to crush the competition so they could hoard even more profit and power, even if that meant decimating local economies and raising prices on families. Small businesses are the lifeblood of a community and they should be able to compete with these soulless mega-corporations on equal footing. This bill would end the disastrous, price rigging lawlessness by providing both small businesses and federal regulators with a larger set of legal tools to punish corporations that run these schemes.” 

“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, yet for far too long they’ve been forced to compete with massive corporations who use their power to squeeze out local competitors. The Fair Prices for Local Businesses Act will ensure accountability by giving local retailers a chance, strengthening competition, and ultimately delivering better prices for consumers. I’m proud to support this legislation to level the playing field for our local businesses,” said Senator Blumenthal. 

“High costs are crushing working families and small businesses,” said Senator Fetterman. “The Fair Prices for Local Businesses Act would level the playing field and make sure small businesses can buy products on the same terms as big corporations.” 

“When suppliers can charge small businesses more than big corporations for the exact same products, local shops shut down, a handful of companies run the market, and families end up paying more at the checkout line,” said Senator Gallego. “This bill gives regulators the tools they need to hold big retailers accountable and make sure local businesses have a fair shot to compete. By leveling the playing field, we can bring prices down for American families.” 

Vermont’s nearly 82,000 small businesses are the beating heart of Vermont’s economy, making up 99% of overall businesses and employing 157,959 people across the Green Mountain State. Small businesses nationwide—from small town grocers to big city restaurants—are forced by mega-corporations to pay higher prices for identical products and pass those higher prices on to customers. Existing laws are supposed to stop big corporations from using their size to force suppliers into charging smaller businesses more, so they can undercut those competitors and clear the market for themselves.  

However, over the last four decades, the Executive Branch and the courts have mostly looked the other way and refused to enforce these laws. Communities paid the price as huge corporations used price discrimination to crush small businesses, with more than 100,000 small retailers shutting their doors in the last few decades, hollowing out local economies and creating food deserts in poor and rural areas.  

Under the leadership of Lina Khan, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) exposed how the world’s biggest corporations illegally conspire to drive up costs on America’s mom-and-pop businesses. In one case, the FTC uncovered how Pepsi and Walmart allegedly colluded to drive up the price of Pepsi products at grocery stores that compete with Walmart. These mega-corporations still benefit from a wide range of legal loopholes that stall enforcement and disincentivize small businesses from fighting back.  

The Fair Prices for Local Businesses Act would strengthen and modernize our price discrimination laws to level the playing field for small businesses and ensure mega-corporations can be held accountable. Specifically, the legislation would: 

• Repeal the “meeting competition” defense: Under current law, price discrimination is legal if the supplier is meeting a competitor’s price to the retailer. Massive retailers would no longer be able to squeeze all their competing suppliers for special deals, creating competition that brings down prices at retailers large and small alike. 
• Hold power buyers accountable: Big retailers are rarely held accountable for receiving illegal price discrimination because plaintiffs must prove they did so knowingly. The bill would eliminate the “knowingly” requirement for retailers with more than $100 billion in annual sales, because these huge corporations should know how suppliers price their products. 
• Expand the law to cover services, not just goods: Local shops and restaurants would no longer pay higher costs for services like delivery apps, point of sale systems, and credit card swipe fees. 
• Set minimum damages to equal the cost of price discrimination: The bill would simplify damage awards for victims of price discrimination to at least match the higher prices they had to pay. 

Senator Welch has led bipartisan efforts to protect consumers, workers, and small businesses in the Senate. The Senator helped introduce the Safeguarding Consumers from Advertising Misconduct (SCAM) Act, bipartisan legislation to crack down on predatory online scams advertisements that cost Americans and small businesses billions of dollars every year.  Senator Welch is also a leading cosponsor of the Tax Relief for Victims of Crimes, Scams, and Disasters Act, Antitrust Accountability and Transparency Act, Visual Artists Copyright Reform Act (VACRA), and the Transparency and Responsibility for Artificial Intelligence Networks (TRAIN) Act. 

Read and download the full text of the Fair Prices for Local Businesses Act. 

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