WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has repeated his support for the Credit Card Competition Act, legislation credit unions and other financial institutions strongly oppose.
Trump highlighted the legislation Monday in a Truth Social post endorsing Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) in Kansas’ Republican Senate primary.
“Roger is working tirelessly to pass the Credit Card Competition Act, in order to stop the out of control Swipe Fee ripoff!” Trump wrote.
As the CU Daily reported earlier, first backed the legislation in January as part of a broader effort to promote policies aimed at lowering consumer costs. The bill would require banks with at least $100 billion in assets to enable credit card transactions to be processed over at least two unaffiliated payment networks, a change supporters say would increase competition beyond Visa and Mastercard.
Opposing Points of View
Backers of the measure argue that greater competition among payment networks would reduce the fees merchants pay to process card transactions, potentially lowering prices for consumers.
According to the Nilson Report, cited by Yahoo Finance, merchants paid $198.25 billion in credit and debit card swipe fees last year.
Credit unions and banks say the proposal will have hugely negative implications, including the elimination of card rewards programs.
“This is the second time President Trump has called for credit card swipe fee reform, and his continuing commitment shows that concern over these fees has reached the highest level,” Doug Kantor, a member of the Merchant Payments Coalition executive committee, said in a statement. “With President Trump and members of Congress from across the political spectrum seeking passage, it’s time to turn this legislation into law.”
Bill Now Four Years Old
The bill, first introduced in 2022, is sponsored by Marshall and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), with Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) also serving as a co-sponsor. Vice President JD Vance previously supported the legislation while serving in the Senate but has not publicly addressed the measure since taking office, Yahoo Finance reported.
According to Yahoo Finance, the Electronic Payments Coalition, which represents card issuers and payment networks, has spent $22 million lobbying against the legislation, citing figures reviewed by the advocacy group
