Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat who chairs the Judiciary Committee, is giving another push to the Credit Card Competition Act bill that has been stymied in Congress since he brought it to life two years ago.

Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who is about to lose his majority role leading the committee, appears to be making a last ditch effort to showcase an argument for injecting more competition into the credit card network market, before his party gives up control of the Senate in January.

The hearing was announced Tuesday, with little explanation, other than a title for the event: “Breaking the Visa-Mastercard Duopoly: Bringing Competition and Lower Fees to the Credit Card System,” plus a time and place. No specific agenda or witnesses were listed.

The act, if it were to pass, would require that banks issuing credit cards ensure that there is at least one card network available to merchants for routing transactions that is not one of the two industry heavyweights, Visa and Mastercard. 

The legislation also builds on Durbin’s legacy of seeking to inject more competition into the card network market. His namesake Durbin Amendment, passed in conjunction with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, imposed the same types of requirements in the debit card arena. It’s been in effect for more than a decade now.

There may be reason to wonder about the effectiveness of that debit law though, given the Justice Department’s lawsuit this year against Visa alleging monopolistic debit practices.

The hearing seems a strikingly quixotic move on the eve of Republican Donald Trump taking office, and both chambers of Congress falling under the control of that party. The GOP has long advocated for less regulation, not more, and Trump has been vocal about having the federal government be less meddlesome in business.

The bill push appears all the more ambitious in light of the other major tasks before the committee in the limited number of days that remain between the holidays before year’s end. Democrats have set themselves on a race for that committee to confirm as many federal judges as possible before the Congress adjourns.

Doug Kantor, general counsel for a trade group that has been backing the legislation — the National Association of Convenience Stores — noted in an interview this week that the legislation has enjoyed bipartisan support.

Co-sponsor Sen. Roger Marshall, a Republican from Kansas, has been spearheading the bill as ardently as Durbin. Other big name Republicans have also signed on, including Vice President-Elect J.D. Vance and Sen. Josh Hawley.

The political action committee for NACS has supported those Congress members, according to reporting from the news outlet Politico last year. On the flip side, bank trade groups have put money behind the opposition.

The bill has been caught in a war between powerful business interests, with small and large retailers alike supporting the legislation, and major banks and payments companies fighting it.

The legislation hasn’t attracted any new Senate sponsors this year, and a hearing scheduled for April was canceled after Durbin was unable to cajole the CEOs of Visa and Mastercard into appearing as witnesses. A subsequent September inquiry by the Treasury Department into card company airline reward programs didn’t yield any movement on the issue either.

So what’s the point of holding a new hearing on the issue next week, given what seem like dim chances of passing the bill before the end of the year?

As Kantor notes, even if the legislation is stuck, it doesn’t hurt to keep a bill in the public eye. That may be especially true for Durbin, whose legislative priorities will be low-balled on the committee agenda for at least the next two years, maybe longer, after the new Republican Congress members arrive.

To understand Durbin’s outlook, it’s helpful to keep in mind how those political winds in Washington have shifted. He has said he’s mulling his re-election bid for 2026 when his seat will be up for grabs. Maybe he’s seeking to keep the legislation alive, as well as his chances of remaining in the Senate.

By Lynne Marek on Nov 14, 2024
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