Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2022

January 24, 2022

The President. Hello, everyone. Please, please sit down. Well, it's good to see all. Let's have a Cabinet meeting. [Laughter] Really, thank you for what you all are doing. We've got a lot more good things to do as well.

Back in July, I signed, as you all know, an Executive order to promote competition and build an economy that works for everybody, not just a few. And competition results in lower prices for families, competition results in fair wages for workers, and, as you all know, competition encourages companies to innovate.

Andâbut what we've seen over the last few decades is less competition and more concentration that literally holds the economy back. And in too many industries, a handful of giant companies dominate, dominate the entire market. And we see it in Big AgâI need not tell the Secretary of Agriculture that; he's forgotten more about this than I knowâin Big Tech, Big Pharma. The list goes on.

And rather than competing for customers, they're consuming their competitors. And rather than doing what they should be doing, they're doing the oppositeâhaving a negative impact. All told, between generating higher prices and lower wages, lack of competition costs the median American family household, according of study done at NYâat NYU, $5,000 a yearâthe median-income family.

My Executive order is changing that, as everyone at this table knows. It includesâit included 72 specific actions for Federal agencies to take and help restore competition in our economy. It includes creating a Competition Councilâyou allâand comprised of Cabinet members and heads of several independent agencies to coordinate and monitor our progress all across the entire Federal Government.

In 6 months since I issued the order, we've met every deadline in myâthat my order call for so far. And here are just three examples. "The right to repair"âsounds kind of silly saying it that way, but it'sâbut we call it "the right to repair"âis literal.

Too many areas, if you don't own a productâexcuse me, if you own a product, from a smartphone to a tractor, you don't have the freedom to choose how or where to repair that item you purchased. It's broke. "Well, what do I do about it?" If it's broke, you had to go to the dealer and you had to pay the dealer's costâthe dealer's price.

If you tried to get it fixedâif you tried to fix it yourself, some manufacturers actually would void the warranty when they sold the vehicleâsold the product to you or disable the features on that product they sold to you.

Denying the right to repair raises prices for consumers, means independent repair shops can't compete for your business. And my experienceâmy Executive order announced that support for the right to repair, ratherâright after I issued my order, I was pleased to see the Federal Trade Commission unanimously announce that it would ramp upâunanimously announced it would ramp up enforcement against illegal repair restrictions.

For example, Apple and Microsoft are changing their policies so folks will be able to repair their phones and laptops themselvesâalthough I'm not sure I know how to do that. [*Laughter*] Iâwhen I have any problem with my phone, I call my daughter. [*Laughter*]

But it's going to make it easier for millions of Americans to repair their electronics instead of paying an arm and a leg to repair or just throwing the device out.

Hearing aids. Roughly 48 million people suffer from hearing loss in Americaâ48 million.

But to get a hearing aid, folks have to getâgo see a specialist and then get a prescription and then they pay thousands of dollars for a pair of hearing aids.

But the big part is why onlyâthat's a big part of why only one in five people who could benefit from a hearing aid actually use one. And so my competition Executive order changes that.

In October, the Food and Drug Administration released a new proposal rule that would make it possible for hearing aids to be sold over the counter without a prescription. We expect this is going to lower costs for hearing aids from thousands of dollars toâliterally to hundreds of dollars, saving people hundreds and hundreds of dollars. And people willâcan pick them up at a local pharmacy, saving time and money, and helping the tens of million people with hearing loss who don't have hearing aids now.

Third area: mergers. In too many industries, big companiesâbig companiesâcan use their power to squeeze out smaller competitors, stifle new competition, raise prices, reduce the choice for customers, and exploit their workers. Well, I've said it before: Capitalism without competition is not capitalism, it's exploitation.

So the Department of Justice and other agencies with oversight authority have ramped up their efforts to scrutinize these mergers. It includes challenging or blocking mergers that are bad for the economy and your pocketbooks.

For example, the Department of Justice just took action to block a megamerger that would have resulted in two brokerages dominating the insurance industry, which would result in customers having fewer choices, higher prices, and lower quality services.

The bottom line: This isn't just about quick wins. It's about reversing decades of concentration that have hurt workers, consumers, and small businesses. It didn't happen at any one time. It's been over a period of time now, a long time.

This is just the beginning though. In the coming weeks and months, Americans can expect to see more: more protections for farmers and ranchers selling products like beef, pork, and poultry; more options and better prices for consumers; more clarity on the actual price you'll pay for high- speed internet services and airline tickets.

We're also going to keep pushing on other priorities andâfrom my Executive order, like addressing the noncompete clauses that affect one in five workers. One in five workers have to sign a noncompete clause.

It stunned me that's how thisâas Brian will tell you, this is how this came about, reallyâ this whole Competitive Council. I knew all what was going on, but when I realized how many people out there with no special insight to having access to patents or anything else had to sign a noncompete clauseâpeople making hourly wagesâall designed to keep prices down forâor to keep wages down and prices up.

But one in five workers at a givenâand gave them, the company, the power over their careers. The bottom line is: Our economy shouldn't be about people working for capitalism. It should be about capitalism working for people, for everyone.

Now I'm going to turn this over to Brian so we can get this meeting started. But, again, thank each and every one of you here on this Council. I really mean it.

You know, I think even when we decided to do this Council, some of youâyou all thought it was a good idea, but I'll beâI'd be surprised if some of you didn't go, "Whoa, I didn't realize how restrictive some of this wasâhow restrictive some of this was." But you're going to make a difference in ordinary people's lives. Ordinary people's lives are going to make a difference.

So, anyway, Brian, the floor is yours.

National Economic Council Director Brian C. Deese. Thank you, sir. We're going go and give the press corps a moment to exit, and then we're going to start the meeting.

The President's Videoconference With European Leaders/Ukraine

Q. Mr. President, can you give us a brief update on your call with European leaders on what's happening in Ukraine today?

The President. The only reason I don't like doing this is, you never report on why I've called a meeting. And this is really important.

I had a very, very, very good meeting. Total unanimity with all the European leaders. We'll talk about it later.

Thank you.

Director Deese. Thank you.

Q. Will you send troops to Ukraine, sir?

Q. Why are you sending 8,500 troops to Ukraine, possibly?

Inflation

Q. Will you take any questions on inflation then? Do you think inflation is a political liability ahead of the midterms?

The President. No, it's a great asset. More inflation. What a stupid son of a bitch.

NOTE: The President spoke at 5:09 p.m. in the East Room at the White House.

Categories: Addresses and Remarks : White House Competition Council, meeting; Interviews With the News Media : Exchanges with reporters :: White House.

Locations: Washington, DC.

Names: Deese, Brian C.; Vilsack, Thomas J.

Subjects: Agriculture : Food markets and prices; Agriculture : Meat-processing industry, competition and pricing; Agriculture, Department of : Secretary; Business and industry : Competition and pricing, improvement efforts; Business and industry : Employee noncompete agreements, efforts to restrict use; Business and industry: Competition and pricing, improvement efforts; Communications : News media :: Accuracy and fairness; Economy, national : Household income and wages; Economy, national : Inflation; Economy, national : Strengthening efforts;

Health and Human Services, Department of : Food and Drug Administration; Health and medical care : Hearing aids, affordability and costs; White House Competition Council; White House Office : Economic Council, National.

DCPD Number: DCPD202200033.