Our mission is to promote consumer welfare by improving the understanding and impact that public policies and regulations have on American consumers.
Joined March 2009
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Cigarettes get a fast track at the FDA. Lower-risk vapes don’t.
‼️New ACI Policy Primer: an arbitrary 2007 cutoff date lets cigarettes use the streamlined Substantial Equivalence pathway, while vapes face the far tougher PMTA process.
The result:
🚬 892 new cigarette products authorized (2018-2022)
💨 48 authorized e-cigarette products (as of Aug 2026)
It’s time for a proportionate standard.
Read more by @JustinLeventhal here: theamericanconsumer.org/2026…
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ACI Joins Coalition Urging NYC Council to Reject Delivery Protection Act
theamericanconsumer.org/2026…
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New York City’s Delivery Protection Act is Anti-Consumer
theamericanconsumer.org/2026…
Imagine a household where both a schoolteacher with a pension and a private employee with a 401(k) both have the same retirement investment opportunities. While they don’t right now, they could with a proposed rule by the Department of Labor. By prioritizing a standard of prudence, greater access would open diversified retirement savings for private-sector employees to choose these investments while maintaining the appropriate safeguards for those savings.
Read more by @leahmlocke here: theamericanconsumer.org/2026…
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The Process is the Safeguard: Diversified Access to Retirement Investments
theamericanconsumer.org/2026…
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American Consumer Institute retweeted
In my new blog for @consumerpal, I discuss the DOL’s proposed rule to make it easier for 401(k) plans to offer alternative assets, which many fiduciaries have avoided due to the fear of lawsuits. theamericanconsumer.org/2026…
Americans face a shortage of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036. Requiring scarce professionals to review work technology can do equally well wastes the resource healthcare lacks. Autonomous AI could expand capacity, lower costs, and reach patients regardless of geography.
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Human review is not the same as patient safety. Doctors make mistakes, and so does AI. The real question is whether AI performs a task at least as safely and accurately as the people legally allowed to do it. In one Nature study, an AI breast-cancer screening system outperformed six radiologists.
Read more by @JustinLeventhal here:theamericanconsumer.org/2026…
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Suppose a clinical AI diagnoses a condition more accurately than the average doctor, runs around the clock, and costs a fraction as much. Why should the law still require a human to repeat or approve its work? Regulators should let AI perform defined healthcare services once it proves it is as safe and reliable as existing providers.
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Fracking fears led to regulations that address its environmental impacts. The same can apply to data centers. Counties are already lowering residential tax rates, upgrading infrastructure, and building new schools because of them. Lawmakers shouldn’t squander the opportunity.
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Pennsylvania embraced fracking. New York banned it. A study found residents in New York’s southern counties lost out on $11,000 per person. New York imports about 85 percent of its energy, and its electricity prices run nearly 40 percent higher than Pennsylvania’s.
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American Consumer Institute retweeted
California formally accepted its share of BEAD money yesterday--conditions and all.
That was the right call!
Now they should look towards states like Louisiana for examples in quick, impactful deployment.
Roughly 65 percent of Americans oppose an AI data center in their communities, and construction is being canceled or paused in many places. The backlash echoes the fracking panic of the 2010s. Both sides can learn from how that played out.
Read more here: theamericanconsumer.org/2026…
The federal government occupies 61 percent of the most coveted frequency ranges. Congress should set and enforce deadlines for agencies, streamline the Spectrum Relocation Fund, and consider a market for government-held spectrum. Right now it’s like driving with the e-brake on.
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Wireless home internet wasn’t always a viable option. Congress directed the FCC in 2018 to auction more spectrum for 5G, and innovators improved wireless enough to rival cable speeds. Now home internet keeps getting cheaper despite widespread inflation.
Read more by @NateKarrenOnX here: theamericanconsumer.org/2026…
Cable internet has gotten cheaper thanks to 5G. A new study from Pepperdine professor James Prieger estimates that competition from wireless home internet cut cable prices by an average of $11 per month between 2023 and 2025. Spectrum put to commercial use benefits consumers.
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Under California’s approved BEAD plan, builders will connect about 143,000 new homes with fiber. Fiber is the gold standard for reliability, and roadblocks to it put copper-dependent consumers at risk. Better broadband everywhere is the choice that serves Californians.
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Net neutrality laws were meant to protect consumers. But research shows they reduce fiber-optic investment, and that means years of delays for the people waiting on better service. Speeds don’t matter if the infrastructure never gets built.
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By tomorrow, Governor Newsom’s pen will shape California’s broadband future for 14 years. To get the state’s share of the $42B BEAD program, he must suspend state net neutrality enforcement for 4 years, plus a 10-year “Federal interest period.” He should take the deal.
Read more by @NateKarrenOnX here: theamericanconsumer.org/2026…
American Consumer Institute retweeted
A new study found wireless home internet drove cable prices down when it entered new markets. Competition works!
Congress can spur more of it by freeing up more government-occupied airwaves for commercial use.
Read more in my latest with @consumerpal:
theamericanconsumer.org/2026…
Protect Consumers, Not Landlines
theamericanconsumer.org/2026…
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