Continue to Urge Congress to Support the Credit Card Competition Act!

Recently, over 100 members of the Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC), including representatives from PPA staff and retail membership, flooded Capitol Hill to demand a vote on the Credit Card Competition Act as an amendment to the Senate’s $280 billion spending minibus which would ensure retailer choice in payment routing by requiring at least two unaffiliated processors on credit cards– the same process that is currently used for debit card transactions. The industry overall sent more than 5,000 email messages to congressional offices along with hundreds of CEO calls last week alone. The big banks responded by flooding the Hill as well. It’s safe to say that this bill is the most heavily lobbied bill in recent history.

Unfortunately, the bill did not receive a vote on the Senate floor due to uncontrollable circumstances. The good news is that the bill’s Senate champions, Senators Roger Marshall (R-KY) and Dick Durbin (D-IL), remain committed to receiving an up and down vote before the end of the year. Additionally, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH) indicated he’s open to legislative action on the bill, and possibly holding a hearing.

NACS and EMA continues to urge all jobbers and retailers to reach out to their Senators and ask them to VOTE YES on the Credit Card Competition Act. This bill would reduce swipe fees and allow retailers a choice of network to handle the transaction through competition which would save Americans and businesses around $15 billion in swipe fees per year. Our industry’s share of that comes to around $9,000 per store per year.

CLICK HERE TO URGE SENATORS TO SUPPORT THE CREDIT CARD COMPETITION ACT