It wasn’t the kind of news that generated front-page headlines, but during Joe Biden’s presidency, the Democrat was practically obsessed with helping American consumers. From bank fees to medical debt, credit card fees to student loans, the Biden White House set out to give regular people a break.
To that end, the Democratic administration also set out to help American passengers by barring airlines from imposing hidden fees on consumers, and it even took steps to force airlines to compensate fliers for flight disruptions.
“I really want this to be known as the period when we did the biggest expansion in passenger rights since deregulation, and I think we can hit that mark,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said last year, during his tenure in the Cabinet.
Donald Trump and his team have a different vision in mind. The Associated Press reported:
The Trump administration said Thursday it is abandoning a Biden-era plan that sought to require airlines to compensate stranded passengers with cash, lodging and meals for flight cancellations or changes caused by a carrier. The proposed rule would have aligned U.S. policy more closely with European airline consumer protections.
When Biden and his team, for example, took steps to ensure medical debt wouldn’t affect Americans’ credit ratings, Republicans opposed the move, and a Trump-appointed judge reversed the policy.
Biden and his team also took steps to make it easier for consumers to cancel services and subscriptions. Republicans balked at this, and Trump-appointed judges reversed that policy, too. A couple of years ago, Biden and his team even announced a pilot program that would allow some Americans to file their taxes directly to IRS — for free. Trump scrapped the policy soon after returning to power. I realize that this isn’t exactly a hot-button political issue, but I wonder how voters would react if more people realized the dramatic differences between the Democratic and Republican administrations when it comes to consumer benefits.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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