Lobbyists are swarming around a piece of legislation that might give lawmakers the opportunity to hold a vote on swipe fee reform in the Senate.
The GENIUS Act could come up for a final vote as early as this week — but a contentious amendment process will drag this out as late as next week. “That’s a fly in the ointment,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said on Monday night.
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) is pushing for an amendment vote on the Credit Card Competition Act.
Enter the lobbyists: Advocates for and against the bill have blitzed the Senate over the last month.
The possibility of the CCCA coming up for a vote is greater than it’s been in years, thanks to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and his commitment to “regular order.”
We spoke to two key lobbyists. Richard Hunt leads the bank- and payment-company backed Electronic Payments Coalition, and Doug Kantor is a member of the Merchants Payments Coalition. Both are projecting confidence.
“We’re advocating for the Marshall-Durbin amendment all the ways we know how,” Kantor said. “We’ve had folks here every month since the beginning of the year, and we have folks here again this week too.”
We met with Hunt in the basement of Dirksen Monday in between meetings. “I want to make sure that every member of Congress is fully educated about the draconian ramifications of this bill,” he said.
The strategy: Banks are making the case that the GENIUS Act isn’t a vehicle for credit card reform.
“This is a serious bill that deserves serious debate,” Hunt said. “You’re talking about people having credit cards withdrawn or their credit limits dropped.”
Banks still have support from the airline industry, which loves its credit card rewards. A group including Boeing, American Airlines, United Airlines, RTX and some industry unions sent a letter to Senate leadership yesterday opposing the CCCA.
Retailers counter this is an opportunity to fix the payments system. Kantor argued the CCCA would loosen the dominance of large credit card players.
“You need the Credit Card Competition Act in order to clear the way for stablecoin to see its potential, because otherwise the big credit card companies will lock it, dominate it,” Kantor said.
As for a vote: Both lobbies think they’ll win a vote on the CCCA if it comes to the floor.
“We’ve had these conversations with every office multiple times, and we have a pretty good feel for where people are,” Kantor said.
Heaven knows the banks feel the same.
