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Blackburn, Blumenthal send bipartisan letter to FTC over online ticket sales after Taylor Swift fiasco

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Lawmakers from both parties are calling on the Federal Trade Commission to crack down on ticket scammers who use bots to horde tickets sold by online vendors and then sell them on the secondary market at inflated prices.

Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who were behind 2016’s Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act, sent a letter to FTC chair Lina Khan asking what the FTC is doing to enforce that law, which prohibits circumventing security or other technological control measures by online ticket vendors, or selling tickets procured through such means.

“People, not scammers and bots, should be buying concert tickets,” Blackburn tweeted Wednesday morning. “The FTC needs to enforce the BOTS Act, my bipartisan legislation which was signed into law in 2016, to finally protect consumers.”

The letter comes after Ticketmaster came under fire for fans being unable to purchase Taylor Swift tickets during a presale meant for verified fans who registered in advance. Ticketmaster claimed that a “staggering number of bot attacks” caused their website to experience problems.

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Blumenthal and Blackburn, the leaders of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security, referenced the Swift fiasco in their letter, as well as would-be concertgoers having problems buying tickets to see Bob Dylan in Nashville. They stressed the difficulty fans face when they are unfairly blocked from buying tickets and left with the only option of spending thousands on the secondary market.

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“[M]ost fans cannot afford to pay thousands of dollars for a single concert ticket. Some reports have found secondary ticket sales ranging from $1,000 (Bruce Springsteen) to $40,000 (Adele). Preventing this type of consumer harm is exactly why Congress chose to enact the BOTS Act six years ago and why we both chose to sponsor that bill,” the letter said.

“Given the numerous high-profile incidents in the online ticket marketplace, it would be helpful to understand how the FTC intends to act to address such conduct going forward,” the senators wrote,” asking specifically for information regarding “any pending enforcement matters” under the act, why the FTC’s only enforcement action under the act was in 2021 if there are “obstacles” in the FTC’s way, and if there is anything else Congress should do.

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“The Better Online Ticket Sales Act gave the FTC and state attorneys general the tools they need to crack down on parasitic online ticket bots – now they need to use them,” Blumenthal said in a statement. “Without adequate enforcement of this anti-consumer software, regular fans are still being unfairly priced out of seeing their favorite singer or hometown sports team. We’d like to know what steps the FTC plans to take to ensure that consumers have fair access to the events they want to see.”

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/blackburn-blumenthal-send-bipartisan-letter-ftc-online-ticket-sales-taylor-swift-fiasco

Politics

Biden vetoes bill cancelling his $400 billion student loan handout, vows he’s ‘not going to back down’

President Biden on Wednesday vetoed the bill that would have scrapped his $400 billion student loan handout and vowed he wasn’t “going to back down” when it came to forgiving the college debt of millions across the country.

“Folks, Republican in Congress led an effort to pass a bill blocking my administration’s plan to provide up to $10,000 in student debt relief and up to $20,000 for borrowers that received a Pell Grant. Nearly 90% of those relief dollars go to people making less than $75,000 a year,” Biden said in a video posted on Twitter

“I’m not going to back down on my efforts to help tens of millions of working and middle class families. That’s why I’m going to veto this bill,” he said. 

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Amid his railing against Republicans, Biden made no mention of the two Democratic senators, Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Jon Tester, D-Mont., who joined all Republicans in voting to advance the bill last week. Independent Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema also voted in favor with the final tally coming to 52-46.

Biden also made no mention of Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, and Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., who joined Republicans in voting for the bill in the House of Representatives. The final House vote tally was 218-203.

The president went on to say that some of the members who voted for the bill had “personally received loans to keep their small business afloat during the pandemic,” and supported “huge tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy.” 

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President Joe Biden

President Joe Biden speaks ahead of vetoing a bill scrapping his $400 billion student loan handout on June 7, 2023 in the Oval Office. (White House)

“But when it comes to hardworking Americans trying to get ahead, dealing with student debt relief, that’s where they drew the line. I think it’s wrong,” he said.

“Let me make something really clear, I’m never going to apologize for helping working and middle class Americans as they recover from this pandemic. Never,” he added before signing his veto of the bill.

Biden’s veto of the bill marks his fifth veto since taking office.

Under the program announced last year, Biden said he would cancel up to $10,000 in student loans for people making less than $125,000, and up to $20,000 for students who received Pell Grants. That program was expected to cost the government more than $400 billion in lost debt repayment, but the program was put on hold after a court blocked it.

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US Capitol Washington DC

The U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. (Fox News Photo/Joshua Comins)

The resolution approved by the House and Senate was written under the Congressional Review Act, which lets Congress reject an executive branch policy as long as both the House and Senate pass a resolution disapproving of that policy.

Given the mostly partisan nature of the votes in the House and Senate, it’s unlikely Congress will be able to find the two-thirds majority needed in each chamber to override Biden’s veto.

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Fox News’ Peter Kasperowicz contributed to this report.

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Politics

Michigan man pleads guilty to assisting Whitmer kidnapping scheme

A man accused of aiding a plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor pleaded guilty Wednesday, the ninth conviction in state and federal courts since agents broke up an astonishing scheme by anti-government rebels in 2020.

Shawn Fix said he provided material support for an act of terrorism, namely the strategy to snatch Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at her vacation home in Antrim County. Prosecutors agreed to drop a weapon charge.

Fix trained with a militia, the Wolverine Watchmen, for “politically motivated violence,” prosecutors have said, and hosted a five-hour meeting at his Belleville home where there was much discussion about kidnapping Whitmer.

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Fix, 40, acknowledged helping plot leader Adam Fox pinpoint the location of Whitmer’s home, key information that was used for a 2020 ride to find the property in northern Michigan.

“Guilty,” Fix told the judge.

Shawn Fix

Shawn Fix has pleaded guilty to his role in the planned kidnapping of Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. (AP Photo/John Flesher)

He appeared in an Antrim County court, one of five people charged in that leg of the investigation. A co-defendant pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in March, leaving three other men to face trial in August.

Fix, who faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, agreed to testify if called by prosecutors.

The main kidnapping conspiracy case was handled in federal court, where four men, including ringleaders Fox and Barry Croft Jr., were convicted. Two others were acquitted.

WISCONSIN MAN CHARGED IN WHITMER KIDNAPPING PLOT TO CHANGE PLEA

Separately, three men were convicted at trial in Jackson County, the site of militia training, and are serving long prison terms.

Whitmer, a Democrat, was targeted as part of a broad effort by anti-government extremists to trigger a civil war around the time of the 2020 presidential election, investigators said. Her COVID-19 policies, which shut down schools and restricted the economy, were deeply scorned by foes.

But informants and undercover FBI agents were inside the group for months, leading to arrests in October 2020. Whitmer was not physically harmed.

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After the plot was thwarted, Whitmer blamed then-President Donald Trump, saying he had given “comfort to those who spread fear and hatred and division.” Last August, after 19 months out of office, Trump called the kidnapping plan a “fake deal.”

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Politics

Utah Rep. Chris Stewart to step down from Congress in September

U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, on Wednesday officially submitted his letter of resignation from Congress. 

In a letter to Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox, Stewart said he would be stepping down as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives effective Sept. 15. 

Utah Rep. Chris Stewart addresses supporters at an election night party

FILE: Utah Rep. Chris Stewart talks to supporters during an Utah Republican election night party on June 28, 2022, in South Jordan, Utah.  (Photo/George Frey, File)

“It has been one of the great honors of my life to serve the good people of Utah in Congress,” Stewart said.

Stewart, a six-term lawmaker, announced his plans to leave Congress last month due to his wife’s illness. 

His resignation would leave open a Republican seat on the House Appropriations and Intelligence committees — and reduce an already narrow GOP majority to just four seats.

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Utah law states that the governor must call for a special election in the event of a House vacancy. Once Stewart makes his resignation official, Republican Gov. Spencer Cox will have seven days to set the time for a primary and special election. 

The law requires those dates to be the same as municipal primary and general elections scheduled for this year, unless the state legislature appropriates funds to hold a separate election.

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Though Stewart’s departure will mean one less Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, it is not expected to affect House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ability to steer a tight Republican majority. 

The district is reliably Republican and Stewart defeated a Democratic challenger by more than 30 percentage points in 2022.

Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report. 

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