Industries Contend Upcoming Financial Reform Bill

As the U.S. Senate gears up for a new financial reform bill, the Restoring American Financial Stability Act, trade associations and business groups, including representatives of the food and supplements industries, are calling for major changes before further negotiations.

The Natural Products Association (NPA; Washington, DC), together with more than 40 other trade and business groups, sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), urging the leaders to oppose provisions in the current bill that would expand authority to the Federal Trade Commission.

The letter states that the provisions would provide FTC with increased power, allowing the agency to act 'as an unelected legislature, governing industries and sectors that had nothing to do with the financial crisis.' The letter adds that concern around these provisions has been overshadowed by the larger debate surrounding the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

'We are asking our members to take action on this important issue by contacting their senators and urging them to focus on strengthening the stability of our economy, not regulating industries that had nothing to do with the financial crisis,' says John Gay, CEO and executive director of NPA. 'At a time when businesses are struggling to both survive and create new jobs, adding burdensome new regulations and ceding more authority over natural products businesses to the FTC is just what the economy does not need.'

Signatories of the letter range from the Food Marketing Institute and the Snack Food Association to the Consumer Electronics Association and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.

To read NPA...s full letter, click here.