WASHINGTON–The Defense Credit Union Council said it continues to monitor the “Frankenstein” of discussions taking place in Congress around card interchange.
As the CU Daily has been reporting, the Credit Card Competition Act has been resurrected in Congress after President Trump expressed his support for the legislation in a social media post. The CCCA had died in the prior session of Congress, but as reported here, the administration has pivoted toward affordability as an issue as the mid-term elections approach in November. While critics, including credit unions, say the CCCA will do nothing to lower prices and will benefit merchants only, politicians have positioned it as consumer-friendly legislation.
Jason Stverak, chief advocacy officer with the Defense Credit Union Council, who had earlier described the president’s social media post and new life for the Credit Card Competition Act as a “Frankenstein”-like issue because it breathed new life in a bill that died in the prior Congress, said card interchange is again being discussed in multiple congressional committees.
The Big Concern
The bill is again being championed by Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) and Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL),who is retiring; the latter known for the credit union-opposed Durbing Amendment that caps debit interchange for the largest institutions.
One big concern, said Stverak, is that when the Senate Agriculture Committee begins its markup on the digital assets market structure bill that either the entire CCCA or language from the bill will be attached.
“Obviously, before that hearing, we will be communicating to the committee our continued opposition to doing that, especially for pieces of legislation that have not had a (proper) hearing,” he said. “We think that’s a little bit of a bad process, especially with pieces of legislation that will dramatically impact the nation’s economy. So, we are on continued outlook to see what other things may happen.”
Stverak added that “continued pushing” by the president and vice president on the interchange issue is also creating new momentum.
