Heather Cox Richardson

The administration has been continuing its push to demonstrate that it is working for ordinary Americans. Last month, President Joe Biden asked all agencies to find ways to cut “junk fees,” the hidden fees, charges, and add-ons that hit consumers on everything from airline and concert tickets, to hotels, to banking services and cable bills. These include the “service fees” on concert tickets, “family seating fees” on airlines, “termination fees,” and so on, and they account for tens of billions of dollars a year of revenue for corporations.

Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) warned banks that surprise overdraft fees and depositor fees for customers who deposit a check that bounces are “likely unfair and unlawful under existing law.” The CFPB is also looking into credit card fees. The Federal Trade Commission has started a rule-making process that addresses surprise fees for event ticketing, hotels, funeral homes, and so on; earlier this year, it brought actions against junk fees in the auto industry that are awaiting finalization.

The White House noted that while there is nothing wrong with a company charging reasonable add-on fees for additional products or services, junk fees designed to confuse consumers or lock in advantageous pricing in favor of the seller hurt businesses by making it hard for consumers to compare real prices or by locking them into contracts so they can’t move to a different provider.

Today, Biden reminded reporters that the price of gasoline is still falling and noted that getting rid of junk fees will save American consumers more than $1 billion a year.

In related news, a panel of three judges, all appointed by Trump, recently declared unconstitutional the system that funds the CFPB.

Also in related news: whitehouse.gov, which is where you go to read White House press releases, has a Halloween bat flying around the White House on the medallion at the top of the page (which was a nice surprise when I finally noticed it as I was reading about the not-necessarily-wildly-exciting world of junk fees).

President Biden and Israeli president Isaac Herzog met today, six days before the Israeli election and a day before Israeli and Lebanese officials are scheduled to sign a historic maritime boundary agreement, brokered by Special Presidential Coordinator for the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment Amos Hochstein. This was Herzog’s first private meeting with Biden, and both presidents reiterated their mutual support.

Herzog is widely perceived to be a moderate, while the return to power of right-wing former leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who openly railed against Democrats during his tenure, would be expected to cause friction with U.S. Democrats. On Tuesday, House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) invited Herzog to deliver a speech to a joint session of Congress next year to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the modern Israeli state. Pelosi and Schumer said the invitation came as well from House minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), should they be in control of their respective houses at that time.

Herzog told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that he was “extremely pleased” that Americans had rejected the antisemitism of rapper and clothing designer Ye (formerly known as Kanye West). Multiple outlets reported that today Ye showed up uninvited and unannounced at Skechers Los Angeles headquarters to find a new home for his signature sneakers after being dropped by Adidas, but was escorted from the building.

Today, attorneys for former President Trump accepted service of the subpoena from the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol. The subpoena requires Trump to provide documents by November 4 and to testify by November 14.

Meanwhile, Arizona Republican Party chair Kelli Ward has asked the Supreme Court to block a subpoena from the January 6 committee for her phone records during the time she served as a fake elector to override the Arizona voters and over the period of January 6, 2021. Justice Elena Kagan has temporarily blocked enforcement of the subpoena so the full court can determine how to proceed.

Trump’s next legal move is unclear, but his political moves seem designed to scuttle the aspirations of his rivals. He announced today that he will be in Miami on November 6, holding a rally with Senator Marco Rubio to boost Rubio’s reelection campaign. Notably absent from the announcement was Florida governor Ron DeSantis. DeSantis’s people were angry at DeSantis’s exclusion, not least because Trump’s appearance at a rally in Florida two days before the election will take all the oxygen out of that day for DeSantis.

A Republican consultant told Politico’s Matt Dixon and Gary Fineout: “You’ve got the Sunday before Election Day totally hijacked by Trump parachuting in on Trump Force One taking up the whole day….No Republican could go to a DeSantis event that day. None. And DeSantis won’t be here? This is big.”