Republican House panel launches probe into Biden's FTC-DOJ task force on corporate pricing

• The GOP-led House Oversight Committee is launching an investigation into President Joe Biden's newly established task force on corporate-pricing practices, according to a letter obtained by CNBC.
• Biden launched the Strike Force on Unfair and Illegal Pricing in March, to be jointly led by the FTC and the DOJ, which have been at the front lines of the Biden administration's antitrust agenda over the past several years.
• The House committee is demanding FTC documents related to the establishment of the task force, along with other antitrust investigations like the proposed merger of Kroger and Albertsons.

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee is launching an investigation into President Joe Biden's newly established task force on corporate-pricing practices, claiming it could be used as a "political tool," according to a letter obtained by CNBC

In the letter dated Tuesday, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability demanded that by April 30, Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan turn over all FTC records related to the creation of the Strike Force on Unfair and Illegal Pricing, which Biden launched in March to address concerns related to corporate-pricing practices.

"The timing of the Strike Force announcement, in an election year, raises the likelihood that political motivations rather than the interests of American consumers drove the action," House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said in the letter. "To use the FTC as a tool in a political witch hunt against U.S. businesses would be a shocking misuse of the agency's power."

The Strike Force is jointly led by the FTC and the Department of Justice, which have been at the front lines of the Biden administration's regulatory agenda over