WASHINGTON, July 7. A group of Democratic policy veterans is pushing a plan to crack down on robocalls, hidden fees, and hard-to-cancel subscriptions, casting everyday consumer hassles as a measurable economic burden, according to NPR. The proposal is one plank of a broader governing blueprint the group calls Project 2029, an effort to give a future Democratic president a ready-made policy agenda, per NPR. Organizers describe the target as the "annoyance economy," a catch-all term for frustrating business practices that waste people's time and money. Chad Maisel, the project's executive director and a former special assistant to President Biden on the White House Domestic Policy Council, is leading the work, according to NPR. He is developing the policies with Neale Mahoney, a Stanford economist who directs the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, per NPR. Together the two estimate that these practices cost American families at least 165 billion dollars a year in wasted time and money, citing a policy brief from the Groundwork Collaborative.
The annoyance economy, as the group defines it, covers hidden fees that appear only at checkout, hoops required to cancel a subscription, insurance paperwork needed to get a claim paid, hour-long holds, robocalls, and spam texts, according to NPR. The name is a deliberate echo of Project 2025, the conservative blueprint that the Heritage Foundation released in 2024 and that the Trump administration drew from after taking office, per NPR. Maisel said the lesson he took from Project 2025 was the value of preparation, wanting a future president to enter office with bold ideas ready to deploy, according to NPR. Project 2029 is still early, and its organizers plan to release proposals on a rolling basis over the next year, per NPR. Other planks previewed so far focus on lowering child care costs, making health care and housing more affordable, cutting energy bills, and protecting children online, according to NPR. The annoyance economy plank is the one the group has chosen to highlight first.
The proposal calls for a series of rules aimed at making routine dealings with companies less painful. It would create a standardized system for filing insurance claims online and would curb "prior authorization," the practice of requiring insurer approval before a patient can get certain tests, prescriptions, or procedures, according to NPR. It also proposes cracking down on scam, marketing, and robocalls, closing a loophole that has allowed a flood of political fundraising texts, and putting in place "click-to-cancel" rules that make ending a subscription as easy as starting one, per NPR. Another idea would restore the ability to press zero and reach a human customer agent, according to NPR. The plan would expand existing rules against junk fees, the mandatory charges that companies add after advertising a lower price, per NPR. The ideas build on work Maisel and Mahoney began together during the Biden administration.
The effort traces back to a federal rule the two worked on that led the Federal Trade Commission in 2024 to ban junk fees for hotels, vacation rentals, and live events, according to NPR. That work fed into President Biden's "Time is Money" initiative, a set of proposed rules meant to save Americans time, which was unveiled in late summer 2024, per NPR. Most of those proposals never took effect, which Maisel attributed to the short window before Biden left office and to opposition from affected industries, according to NPR. Companies have fought similar rules in court and in Washington. The airline industry spent heavily to oppose a rule that would have required cash refunds for significant flight delays, and the Trump administration scrapped that rule in November 2025, per NPR. Telecom industry groups sued to block the FTC's click-to-cancel rule, according to NPR.
Maisel and Mahoney argue that markets do not fix these problems on their own for three reasons, per NPR. They point to weak competition in concentrated industries, a lack of clear information for consumers before they buy, and behavioral biases that lead shoppers to focus on upfront prices rather than the full cost of dealing with a company, according to NPR. Mahoney cited the ticket reseller StubHub, which briefly showed all-in prices in 2014 but lost market share to rivals that kept advertising lower base prices and adding fees at checkout, per NPR. The FTC later adopted a rule against deceptive ticket fees, and in April the agency said StubHub would refund 10 million dollars to consumers, according to NPR. Supporters of a lighter-touch approach counter that consumers can take their business elsewhere and that added regulation can raise compliance costs, a view rooted in standard free-market economics, per NPR. The dispute over whether Washington should police everyday hassles is likely to sharpen as Project 2029 releases more of its agenda.
What to Watch. Project 2029 plans to roll out additional proposals over the next year, and the group's website lists further policy areas still to come, according to NPR. The annoyance economy plank remains a proposal, not law, and would require action by a future administration or Congress to take effect. Watch whether the FTC's existing junk-fee and click-to-cancel rules survive ongoing court challenges, per NPR. Industry groups representing airlines, telecoms, and insurers are likely to weigh in as specific rules are drafted. The 165 billion dollar estimate and the framing of consumer hassles as an economic cost will be tested as the idea faces public and political scrutiny. How voters respond will help determine whether Democrats carry the theme into the next national campaign.
Sources: NPR (Planet Money), Groundwork Collaborative, Federal Trade Commission.