Two dozen small business associations — representing a broad swath of Main Street — released a joint letter in support of Senator Chris Murphy’s new bill, the Fair Prices for Local Businesses Act, aimed to strengthen and modernize a crucial law on the books to ensure a level playing field for small businesses, the Robinson-Patman Act. The law, passed in the 1930s, made it illegal for dominant retailers, like Walmart and Amazon, to use their power over suppliers to secure lower prices and other benefits while simultaneously raising the prices for competing, smaller stores.
This illegal practice, known as price discrimination, is a top problem impeding the ability for independent businesses to fairly compete with dominant large corporations, calling on federal agencies, Congress, and the states to prioritize enforcement. The letter signed by Small Business Rising coalition groups states:
For decades, powerful retailers, including Walmart and Amazon, have used their enormous market power to extract sweetheart deals from suppliers while independent businesses pay dramatically higher prices for the same goods and services. The Robinson-Patman Act was designed to stop exactly this kind of price discrimination. But over time, legal loopholes, narrow interpretations, and burdensome requirements have made it challenging to enforce this important law. We support your new proposal because it makes critical, commonsense fixes that would give the law real teeth.
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The bill is co-sponsored by Senators Welch, Gallego, Fetterman, and Blumenthal.