then on c-span3 at 10:00 a.m., the energy secretary testifies on the status of products funded by infrastructureaw. everything also streams live on the c-span video app or online at been.org. >> there are a lot of places to get political information. matter where you are from or where you stand on the issues, c-span is america's network. unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. it happens here, here or anywhere, america is wating. this is powered by cable. >> president biden spoke about a new proposal that would lower

late fees from credit card companies. this was a large meeting at the white house where the president also called on congress to pass a law that would remove additional fees from companies like ticketmaster and from airlines. this is about 10 minutes. pres. biden: thank you all for being here as my administration takes on action to lower the cost. i ran for president to rebuild the backbone of the country, i know you're tired of hearing me say this. begin to rebuild the economy from the bottom up and middle out in. two years we have made real progress. growth is up. wages are up. over the last two years more americans have applied to start a small business than any year on record. everybody applies new small business that's about hope. and our economic plan is

working. and it's important part of that plan promoting fair competition across the entire economy. you heard me say that capitalism without competition isn't capitalism, it is just simply exploitation. and so that's why we've been moreout spoken about promoting competition than any president since teddy roosevelt. and that's why i've created the competition council which you see around this table. that's why when we last met in september, the council, we challenged them to come up with new ways to eliminate unfair, hidden fees, known as junk fee that sneak up on consumers. so this group stepped up. as a result, we're requiring internet providers to list fees up front on clear, easy to read labels, just like the labels on food products you buy. now you can compare your choices

easily to find the best deal you want to go to. we also convinced major airlines to rebook cancellation flights for free rather than charging customers for rebooking. we pushed banks to ditch surprise overdraft and bounced check fee, saving americans an estimated $1 billion a year as a consequence of that. and last month we took a big step toward promoting competition in the labor market when the federal trade commission proposed a rule banning noncompete agreements for 30 million americans. 30 million americans. you work as a bellhop in one hotel, couldn't go across the street to another he tole to make two bucks a day more. these are contracts that say you can't do a job in the same field even if it's a better deal like a curt guard who wants to take a job across town.

but you can't because you signed a noncompete agreement. i think it's wrong. i think we all think it's wrong. now today the consumer financeable protection bureau is proposing a new rule to lower credit card late fees. right now, credit card companies charge and average of $31 whenever you can't pay your bill on time. that's on top of the interest you're already paying. now, nobody is saying that you shouldn't pay your fees on time. and no one says the bank should lend you money for free. but that's what banks charge interest for. in the obama-biden administration, congress passed a bipartisan law that said banks cannot charge late fees that are significantly more than the late payments cost them in the first place. and so it doesn't cost $31 for a bank to process a late fee. but that's how much they're charging you now.

folks, that's a junk fee. if there ever was one. it can drain hundreds of dollars a year from american family, especially folks who are already struggling to make ends meet. not anymore after today. tad's rule proposes to cut those fees from $31 on average to $8. to $8. that chang is expected to save -- that change is expected to save tens of millions of dollars for americans. roughly $9 billion a year in total savings. and over the next few weeks, my team is going to meet with state and local officials across the country to identify things they can do to crack down on junk fees in their own jurisdictions. today i'm also calling on congress to pass the junk fee protection act, to ban four of the most frustrating charges

americans face. the first one of those is some airlines charge extra to pick your seat, including for parents who just want to sit next to their child on a plane. they charge extra. you don't know that going in, though. and it's wrong. secondly, the -- when you book a hotel, you should see the full cost right then and there instead of getting hit with what's called a resort fee which can be over $50 a night. and when you check out. and third, you should be able to switch your internet, cable or cell phone plan without the $200 early termination penalty some of these companies charge. and fourth, you should lower the huge service fees that companies like ticketmaster slp onto tickets for concerts or sporting events that can easily add hundreds of bucks to a family's night out. congress should pass the junk

fee protection act so we can crack down on these fees and give hardworking americans just a little more breathing room. the bottom line is this. it's un-- these unfair fees add up. it's a basic question of fairness. with the help of the folks in this room we're going to keep building an economy that's fair, an economy that's competitive, and an economy that works for everyone. i'm going to turn this over to director chopra and you fire away. the floor is yours. >> thank you, mr. president. back in the day when credit cards just started to get going, if you were late on your payment, you just got a tiny late fee. a little bit of a nudge to remind you. but you know, today, $30 million in penalties are charged on americans every day. that's $12 billion a year. that really bites people's

budgets. so what we did is we took a look at the law and the rules and we found a legal loophole that credit card companies had been exploiting to charge billions of extra dollars, way beyond their costs, and way unjustified to deter late payments. and think about it right now. people are seeing their bills from holiday travel from christmas gifts they want -- from christmas gifts. they want to be able to pay it back. but we see across the economy businesses building a model on these junk fees. so we have launched the process to cut those fees down from $12 billion and we project as the president mentioned we'll save people $9 billion a year. that's just one fee. and look, we want credit card companies and families to work

together and they already face consequences when they're late. they get an avalanche of interest when they are late. interest rays now are hitting 3% for the average card. what i think we also see is companies using inflation as an excuse to raise fees even more. and that is wrong. so we are going to take that work and see how we can cut away and chip away at some of these junk fees, building on our overdraft work and so much more. i'm really glad that so many of us are here and looking across government, mr. president, to see how these fees are distorting fair competition. people want to be able to see the priceup front and know what they're getting and not be surprised for something they can't even budget for. so we're really proud to push forward with this and hopefully people can start seeing some real relief next year.

pres. biden: hopefully. one of the things that we all know, each of your departments, people have lost faith in government's ability to deliver. they've lost faith in the private sector and what they advertise, that they say they're delivering. it's about just letting people know that, you know, we see what's happening. and it's totally appropriate to do what we're doing. and really, i think the whole idea here is we have to rebuild confidence in our ability to deliver for the american people. and i think that's a big chunk of what we're doing here. i'm going to turn it over to the director of the national economic council. >> thank you, mr. president. [people speaking at once]