Murray Cosponsors Legislation to Crack Down on Big Corporations Shrinking Products Without Reducing Prices, Stop Shrinkflation

Bill empowers Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general to crack down on corporations reducing product size without a reduction in price

Federal Reserve research found corporate profits account for total inflation from July 2020 through July 2021 and 41 percent of total inflation from July 2020 through July 2022 

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, joined Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) and six of their colleagues in introducing the Shrinkflation Prevention Act to crack down on shrinkflation and on corporations that deceive consumers by selling smaller sizes of their products without lowering the prices. During the COVID-19 pandemic, big corporations took advantage of the crisis to prey on consumers through greedflation: raising prices by even more than necessary to cover increases in their costs, and hiding behind inflation and supply chain disruptions to do it. Now that the market shock of the pandemic has largely abated, corporations’ costs are coming down and profits are rising. But for American families, prices remain high. The Shrinkflation Prevention Act would help to put more money in the pockets of working families, make big corporations pay their fair share, fight unfair corporate price gouging, and take on corporate monopolies to increase competition and lower costs.

“Trying to pull a fast one on American families by shrinking products and selling them for the same price is plain wrong—and it’s about time Congress cracked down on these deceptive practices,” said Senator Murray. “Families in Washington state aren’t fooled when they go to the grocery store and find the sizes of their favorite foods shrinking while the prices stay the same—I’m proud to be a cosponsor of Senator Casey’s Shrinkflation Prevention Act to help stop corporations from ripping off American consumers.”

The Shrinkflation Prevention Act would:

1. Direct the FTC to promulgate regulations to establish shrinkflation as an unfair or deceptive act or practice, prohibiting manufacturers from engaging in shrinkflation
2. Authorize FTC to pursue civil actions against corporations who engage in shrinkflation
3. Authorize state attorneys general to bring civil actions against corporations engaging in shrinkflation

Murray and Casey were joined on the bill by U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH). The bill is endorsed by Groundwork Collaborative, Public Citizen, Consumer Federation of America, and WorkMoney.

Read more about the Shrinkflation Prevention Act here.

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