Executive Order 13725-Steps To Increase Competition and Better Inform Consumers and Workers To Support Continued Growth of the American Economy
Issued 2016-04-15 by Barack Obama
Plain-English Overview
AI-generated summary explaining what this action does, who it affects, and why it matters
Executive Order 13725 directs federal agencies to actively promote competition in the American economy and help consumers and workers make informed choices. The order identifies certain business practices—such as price fixing, wage setting, bid rigging, and illegal collusion—as harmful to competition, noting that these practices can lead to higher prices, poorer service, less innovation, fewer new businesses, and reduced opportunities for workers. The order emphasizes that competitive markets are important for advancing national priorities like affordable healthcare, energy independence, and access to affordable broadband.
Under this executive order, federal agencies are instructed to use their existing authorities to enhance competition where consistent with other laws. Agencies must identify specific actions they can take to detect anticompetitive abuses and refer behaviors that appear to violate antitrust laws to the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission. Additionally, agencies are directed to eliminate regulations that restrict competition without providing corresponding benefits to the American public, and to engage in pro-competitive rulemaking that arms consumers and workers with information needed to make informed choices.
This order matters because it represents a government-wide effort to ensure that consumers, workers, startups, small businesses, and farms benefit from competitive markets. By coordinating actions across multiple federal agencies rather than relying solely on traditional antitrust enforcers, the order aims to address barriers to competition more comprehensively throughout the economy.
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Constitutional Analysis
How this action fits (or doesn't) within Article II authority and existing law
Executive Order 13725 addresses "Executive Order 13725-Steps To Increase Competition and Better Inform Consumers and Workers To Support Continued Growth of the American Economy". The President's stated reasoning: "protect American consumers and workers and encourage competition in the U." Executive orders are a long-established exercise of presidential power, used by every President since George Washington. They are grounded in Article II of the Constitution, which vests executive power in the President and directs them to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed."
Executive orders cannot create new law, contradict existing federal statutes, or exceed the President's constitutional authority. The legitimacy of any specific order depends on whether it operates within statutory authority Congress has delegated, directs the executive branch on matters within its constitutional purview, or attempts to substitute executive policy for legislative choices. Courts can and do review executive orders for conformity with the Constitution and federal law.
Official Summary
Administration of Barack Obama, 2016 Executive Order 13725—Steps To Increase Competition and Better Inform Consumers and Workers To Support Continued Growth of the American Economy April 15, 2016 By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to protect American consumers and workers and encourage competition in the U.S. economy, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1 . Policy . Maintaining, encouraging, and supporting a fair, efficient, and competitive marketplace is a cornerstone of the American economy. Consumers and workers need both competitive markets and information to make informed choices. Certain business practices such as unlawful collusion, illegal bid rigging, price fixing, and wage setting, as well as anticompetitive exclusionary conduct and mergers stifle competition and erode the foundation of America's economic vitality. The immediate results of such conduct—higher prices and poorer service for customers, less innovation, fewer new businesses being launched, and reduced opportunities for workers—can impact Americans in every walk of life. Competitive markets also help advance national priorities, such as the delivery of affordable health care, energy