Show an ad over header. AMP

President Biden wants to remake the U.S. economy by injecting more competition into highly concentrated industries including airlines, Big Tech and agriculture to improve choices and prices for consumers.

Why it matters: The ambitious executive order signed Friday directs the federal government to step up antitrust enforcement and regulation. The move marks a sea change from four decades of a hands-off-big-business approach ushered in by Ronald Reagan.

What they're saying: "Let me be very clear, capitalism without competition isn't capitalism. It's exploitation," Biden said at a White House signing ceremony for the order.

  • The president argued that industrial concentration harms employees by giving them less choice in where to work and lowering their wages.

Details: The administration's order urges agencies to take specific actions help consumers' pocketbooks, including ...

  • Charting a path for states and tribes to safely import drugs from Canada, and urging the Federal Trade Commission to ban arrangements in which name-brand drug makers pay generic companies to stay out of the market.
  • Allowing hearing aids to be sold over the counter, and cutting down on costs Americans' pay to get them from specialists.
  • Forcing airlines to to refund fees when baggage is delayed or when in-flight WiFi doesn't work.
  • Banning internet service providers from charging high early termination fees, which can run upwards of $200.
  • Barring non-compete clauses in employment contracts that make it harder for workers to change jobs.

Between the lines: Don't expect any of this to happen quickly — the process of adopting new regulations can take months or even years.

  • The executive order relies on individual agencies to carry out the White House policies — which means lengthy rulemaking processes and lobbying frenzies from powerful industries.

The big picture: The order will make it harder for companies across sectors to merge or create joint venture agreements, and may lead to federal attempts to unwind acquisitions.

  • That includes more scrutiny of Big Tech platforms' attempts to buy smaller rivals or scoop up troves of consumers' data through deal-making.

Yes, but: The president has yet to name a nominee to lead the antitrust division of the Justice Department, who, along with newly named FTC Chair Lina Khan, will be key in carrying out antitrust action.

Our thought bubble: Executive orders can be an ineffective means to change federal policy, as numerous failed initiatives by the Trump administration demonstrated. But the Biden administration is well stocked with bureaucratic veterans who may be able to make at least some of these changes stick.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

Section2

Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.