Washington, D.C. (June 24, 2026)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Becca Balint led Members of the Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust in a hearing examining how President Trump’s war with Iran and a corrupt, influence-driven antitrust system are driving up prices, wiping out competition, and leaving American families and small businesses to foot the bill. The hearing included testimony from Professor Nancy L. Rose, Charles P. Kindleberger Professor of Applied Economics, MIT Sloan School of Management; Mr. Timothy M. Ravich, Senior Counsel, Tressler LLP; Mr. Kristian Stout, Director of Innovation Policy, International Center for Law and Economics; Mr. Christopher T. Sununu. President and CEO, Airlines for America. President Trump’s war of choice with Iran killed Spirit Airlines, weakened the rest of the airline industry, and made America’s affordability crisis even worse. - Ranking Member Raskin said: “Spirit Airlines was once the nation’s leading ultra-low-cost carrier and one of the strongest forces in the economy, holding down ticket prices for consumers. It's now collapsed, and we can’t have a serious conversation about the demise of Spirit Airlines without talking about the main culprit: the President’s disastrous and illegal war with Iran. The Iran War has not only cost the lives of 13 American service members and thousands of Iranian civilians, including hundreds of children. It has cost American taxpayers more than $100 billion and American consumers more than $60 billion in increased fuel costs."
- Rep. Becca Balint said: “Spirit is gone now, but not because of antitrust enforcement. Spirit is gone because of the massive spike in jet fuel costs that are a direct result of President Trump’s unconstitutional war with Iran. Even the Spirit CEO said that fuel prices were the biggest factor in closing the airline. President Trump’s war of choice has made it all worse. Jet fuel prices have roughly doubled since the war began. Airlines are passing that burden directly down to their passengers through higher fares, more fees, and new fuel surcharges.”
- Rep. Hank Johnson said: “In just the first few months of this unconstitutional war, American households paid an extra $450 on average. Wholesale prices are rising, hiring plans are delayed, and farmers cannot get their fertilizer for their crops. Trump went in without a plan, and so who knows how long this war is actually going to last. American businesses and consumers were finally free from Trump’s tariffs, just in time to be slapped down again by a price increase from this war of choice.”
The Biden Administration got Spirit-JetBlue right. After decades of corporate consolidation, consumers deserved more competition, not less. - Rep. Chuy García said: “Republican attempts to blame the Biden Administration for the collapse of Spirit is nonsense. It’s a distraction from the Iran war, which is illegal, unpopular and cruel. And it was fuel prices that was a major factor in Spirit going under. It’s a distraction from the cesspool of corruption at the DOJ Antitrust Division and what it’s become. And it’s a distraction from the real competition issues facing commercial aviation today. Despite the rosy picture that Governor Sununu paints, only 31% of Americans have a positive view of the airline industry, and consolidation has fueled anti-competitive practices that are ripping off constituents like mine and hurting the aviation system.”
Under the Trump Administration, antitrust enforcement has been overtaken by corruption and grift. - Ranking Member Raskin said: “Under the Trump Administration, antitrust enforcement has been twisted and corrupted beyond recognition. Instead of being a tool to protect competition and innovation and to prevent companies from abusing their market power over consumers and workers, it has become just one more grift perpetrated by the President and his enablers for their own purposes of wealth maximization.”
- Ranking Member Raskin asked antitrust expert Professor Rose: “What grade would you give the antitrust enforcers in the trump administration today?” She replied: “I would have to fail them.” When asked to justify the failing grade, Professor Rose said: “We no longer have an antitrust enforcement agency at the Department of Justice that’s based on principles of evidence. It seems instead to be based on principles of either who has the administration’s ear or their willingness to pay.”
- Rep. Balint said: “Antitrust defense lawyers are telling their clients they should hire lobbyists and political fixers with close connections to the White House to pass antitrust enforcers. We’ve heard from whistleblowers like Roger Alford, who’ve described a pay-to-play environment in DOJ Antitrust. When you were at DOJ, Professor Rose, especially in your time working on the JetBlue-Spirit case, did the President ever weigh in with you or your team?” Professor Rose explained: “Absolutely not. In fact, we weren’t even allowed to be at meetings with White House officials, not related to antitrust topics.”
- Rep. Johnson said: “You said that you were concerned that under the Trump Administration, antitrust enforcement is turning into ‘a political favor factory.’ Can you talk a little bit more about why the entire system suffers when the wealthy and the politically connected can buy the outcome that they prefer?” Professor Rose explained: “I always thought of antitrust as being the domain that preserved a consumer-facing and worker-facing interest in competition. And honestly, for other small businesses or businesses that want to grow, it preserved their ability to expand. When you don’t have that protection, then you empower companies, particularly stronger companies or companies who are seeking competitive advantage and monopoly rents, to raise prices, to create barriers to entry and to competition, to restrict others from coming into the market. You can have workers getting paid less because you’re reducing competition for their employment. And all of that has tremendous cost for the American people.”
- Rep. Balint said: “Americans simply want choices. We do not want a handful of companies to control and limit our freedom of choice. And we don’t want a federal government that approves consolidation because its corporate and political allies want it to.”
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