ABA, associations: Keep charge card routing expense out of defense costs expense

The American Bankers Association and 10 other associations representing banks and cooperative credit union on Friday prompted legislators to decline another effort to connect the Credit Card Competition Act as a change to an unassociated defense costs expense.

Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) reestablished the retailer-supported CCCA previously this year after stopping working to create sufficient assistance for the legislation throughout the previous Congress. The expense’s fans are now trying to connect the expense to the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, matching their previous effort to connect the legislation to the bigger National Defense Authorization Act. The expense appropriates funds for military real estate, veterans’ health advantages and funds, and military centers.

“Far from increasing competition in the credit card marketplace, [CCCA] will hurt consumers and benefit big box retailers by reducing the number of credit card issuers competing for consumers’ business, removing a consumer’s choice of preferred card network, wringing out the competitive differences among card products, limiting popular credit card rewards programs, and putting the nation’s private-sector payments system under the micromanagement of the Federal Reserve board… We urge you to reject this cynical manipulation of our nation’s payments system for narrow financial gain for the nation’s largest retailers,” the associations stated in a joint letter to House and Senate leaders.