Congressman Maxwell Frost Introduces the Fair Grocery Pricing Act to Lower Grocery Costs and End Price-Fixing by Big Corporations
Watch the Press Conference Here
ORLANDO, FL — As grocery prices keep climbing, Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) is fighting back with a new bill to make food more affordable for families. The Fair Grocery Pricing Act will stop the largest agriculture corporations from secretly working together to keep prices high and hurt consumers.
Frost introduced the bill today in Orlando at the United Against Poverty (UAP) Member Share Grocery Store, an accessible food assistance grocery store where folks who fall at or below 200% of the federal poverty level can shop for low cost groceries in a dignified way.
The Congressman was joined by Orlando City Commissioner Patty Sheehan, Daily Bread Distribution, and a local resident struggling with food insecurity, who, thanks to UAP, is able to shop for groceries at a low cost.
“Families across America are paying way too much for food while a few huge companies make billions of dollars,” said Congressman Frost. “The Fair Grocery Pricing Act is the solution we need to stop these companies from unfairly raising prices and help make groceries affordable again. We can’t keep letting big food companies control the market and raise prices whenever they want. Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress ran on the promise of lowering costs, but now they have no plan and are pointing fingers – here’s something they can do to deliver on that promise and help Central Florida families.”
Right now, some of the largest producers are secretly sharing price and supply information to keep prices high. They’re using services like Agri Stats and Urner Barry to coordinate prices and make more money off consumers. This is illegal price-fixing, and it’s driving up the cost of things like chicken, beef, and eggs.
When the top four poultry companies started using Agri Stats, the price of pork jumped by more than 50% in just five years. Just a single company involved made almost $12 billion in profits, while working people were forced to pay much more at the grocery store.
Frost’s Fair Grocery Pricing Act would:
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Make it illegal for food producers to use digital tools to share pricing or supply information that leads to price-fixing.
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Stop companies from using algorithms to coordinate prices and supply.
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Ensure people get their day in court against companies if they believe they are working together to keep prices high.
Congressman Frost’s bill comes as Donald Trump vowed to lower grocery prices on the campaign trail, but since then has done nothing to fix the problem. Instead of offering a plan to help working families, Donald Trump is letting big food corporations get away with price-fixing. Under President Biden, the Department of Justice did try to take action against one of these companies, but the case is still in limbo. That’s why we need the Fair Grocery Pricing Act to put an end to this now.
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