WASHINGTON — Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry used a U.S. Senate Banking Committee hearing this week to rail against so-called junk fees, the charges that are added to the purchase price of ticket sales, hotel rooms and other goods and services and help disguise the real cost of products.
“This committee is right to focus its attention on junk fees because they harm both businesses and consumers,” Ms. Henry told the panel Wednesday in prepared testimony. “Consumers end up paying more than they expected for a product or service. Junk fees prevent consumers from effectively shopping for the best overall price.”
Ms. Henry said the fees mislead consumers because they think they are getting a lower price, only to be hit by surprise charges when they’re ready to check out.
“Junk fees prevent consumers from effectively shopping for the best overall price,” she said. “Honest businesses lose out to competitors who charge junk fees because the competitors’ prices appear — at first — to be a better deal,”
Those fees also have earned the ire of the White House, where President Joe Biden has called on Congress to ban the extra charges tacked onto online ticket purchases for concerts, ballgames and other entertainment events. Such fees can swell the price of a ticket by 50% or more, the White House said.
In other Washington news:
Fetterman’s bill to ban oil reserve sales to adversaries poised to become law
First-term U.S. Sen. John Fetterman is about to see his first piece of legislation become law.
Mr. Fetterman, D-Pa., had introduced a measure banning sales from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.
The provision was added to the larger defense policy bill by a vote of 85-14. The overall bill, officially known as the National Defense Authorization Act, passed the Senate on Thursday.
“China, Russia, Iran and North Korea should not be able to purchase oil from a reserve meant to protect the energy security of America and our allies — it’s that simple,” Mr. Fetterman said in a statement.
Mr. Fetterman’s office noted that Congress in 2015 lifted a ban on exports of U.S. crude oil without making an exception for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which was established in 1975 after the Arab oil embargo. Under both the Trump and Biden administrations, public sales of excess crude oil have gone to companies with ties to adversarial nations.
The House version passed in March. Since the provision passed both chambers, it likely will survive House-Senate negotiations and be part of the final defense policy bill.
Summer Lee pushes for gender-neutral U.S. laws
Rep. Summer Lee wants the U.S. legal code to be more inclusive. Its language, that is.
Ms. Lee, D-Swissvale, has introduced legislation to eliminate masculine references such as “he” in federal laws and instead use gender-neutral language.
For example, “fireman” would be replaced by “firefighter” and the head of a federal agency would be referred to as “the secretary” rather than “he.”
“Words matter — especially the words that form the foundations of our country’s rule of law,” Ms. Lee said. “It’s not shocking that, for generations, the U.S. code intentionally wrote out women, Black, brown, queer and marginalized folks. What is shocking is that today, equality is enshrined into neither our laws nor our Constitution — meaning neither our laws nor our constitution protects all people. In 2023 it is unacceptable that the U.S. code perpetuates sexist social structures and reinforces gender stereotypes and social discrimination.”
Jonathan D. Salant: jsalant@post-gazette.com, @JDSalant; Benjamin Kail: bkail@post-gazette.com, @BenKail
First Published: July 27, 2023, 3:52 p.m.
Updated: July 28, 2023, 1:33 p.m.
