Several members of Congress wrote to the Federal Trade Commission last week urging the agency to "take immediate action to protect consumers from price gouging during this declared public health emergency." 

The letter -- signed by Jerrold Nadler, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Frank Pallone, Jr., Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, David N. Cicilline, Chairman of the Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law Subcommittee, and Jan Schakowsky, Chair of the Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee -- expressed their "serious concerns with reports of price gouging in the wake of the COVID-19 public health emergency."  

They said that not only are many Americans unable to find essentially household items in their local stores or online, "profiteers who have cleaned the shelves of hundreds of stores are hoarding these very same supplies or charging unconscionable prices."