House Committee Takes Up Debit Swipe Fee Reform

Today, the House Financial Services Committee will meet to markup the Financial CHOICE Act, which contains language to repeal debit swipe fee reforms.

May 02, 2017

WASHINGTON – At 10:00 am EST today, the House Financial Services Committee will meet to markup legislation that could eliminate the debit swipe fee reforms that the convenience and fuel retailing industry fought so hard for.

The markup, the final step a committee takes in the legislative process before a bill can advance to the full House floor for a vote, is on H.R. 10, the Financial CHOICE Act, introduced by Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) on April 26, and includes a full repeal of debit swipe fee reform. Last week, retailers went to Capitol Hill and held nearly 100 meetings with lawmakers to urge them to save debit swipe fee reform. The group of 40 retailers included companies representing 10,000 convenience stores.

The inclusion of a repeal of debit reform is supported by the banking and credit card industries, who have launched media campaigns advocating for repeal. If these efforts are successful, debit reforms will go away, debit swipe fees and network fees will once again skyrocket, and the savings that convenience store customers have seen will disappear. Repealing these reforms will only benefit the top banks and the credit card giants, which will continue to price-fix the fees merchants pay.

To watch the Financial Services Committee markup of H.R. 10, please click here. To contact your representatives and ask them to protect debit reforms, visit the NACS grassroots portal.

For more information, contact Anna Ready, NACS director of government relations, at aready@nacsonline.com.

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