Corporate Crackdown

We reviewed efforts at five agencies (DOL, NLRB, SEC, CFPB, and FTC) toward using existing enforcement powers to crack down on corporate wrongdoing, highlighting successful enforcement actions with real impact on our daily lives. Over the past four years, these critical (if not always public-facing) executive branch agencies have made significant strides toward reversing the deregulatory efforts of the Trump administration, while pushing protections for workers and consumers further. 

Under Director Rohit Chopra, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has facilitated a resurgence in consumer relief won through enforcement actions relative to the Trump years, which were marked by lax enforcement (see the chart below from the CFPB). This increase in relief came amidst industry-driven challenges to the agency’s constitutionality. The case stifled some potential action, but the agency’s enforcement actions have rebounded since the Supreme Court rejected the challenges to its existence.   

Under the Biden administration, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) achieved record levels of enforcement. It recovered record sums from imposing penalties, had a high count of enforcement actions, and significant numbers of white collar criminals were disbarred from executive board seats. The SEC has secured these accomplishments through effective litigation, emphatic rulemaking, and rigorous enforcement of the law.

The Department of Labor (DoL) has been prolific in using its rulemaking abilities to protect workers and increase wages while using its investigative and enforcement authority to hold bad corporate actors accountable. This list is not meant to be comprehensive, but highlights major victories in increasing overtime pay, addressing misclassification of employees as independent contractors, and cracking down on widespread illegal use of child labor. 

Lina Khan and the Federal Trade Commission have been the target of endless Wall Street Journal hit pieces and antagonistic lobbying from billionaires hoping to cut short Khan’s tenure at the helm of the consumer protection agency. This is not a coincidence. Under Khan’s leadership, the small agency has punched well above its weight by writing cogent rules  to protect consumers, blocking anticompetitive mergers, and bringing enforcement actions to punish illegal corporate practices.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has been an active regulator under the Biden administration, helping shift the balance of power in labor relations to empower workers. The NLRB has utilized both enforcement actions and rulemaking capacity to help workers and unions, much to the chagrin of big business groups. 

Corporate revolvers are keeping industry giants from facing real accountability.

Now is the time for progressives to weigh in on jobs that don’t require Senate confirmation.

FTC Chair Lina Khan has explicitly called for more resources to investigate oil and gas mergers, as current funding and staffing levels are forcing the agency to “make difficult decisions” on how to pursue enforcement in oil and gas markets. How many more anti-competitive business practices could the agency unveil with more time and funding?