Consideration of the GENIUS Act, the cryptocurrency bill that Senators Roger Marshall (R-KS) and Richard Durbin (D-IL) are trying to amend to reform credit cards, has been delayed. The Marshall-Durbin Amendment was filed on May 20 by Marshall and Durbin, lead sponsors of the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA), and it was possible that a Senate vote to add the Amendment could have come as early as May 22. However, Congress is now on a brief recess and the overall bill will not be considered until next week.

The Marshall-Durbin Amendment is the Credit Card Competition Act, which would create choice for the processing of credit card transactions by requiring the largest U.S. banks that issue Visa or Mastercard credit cards to allow transactions to be processed over at least two unaffiliated card payment networks—the same process that has been used for debit card transactions for more than a decade.

“Our industry—and the retail community overall—has done a fantastic job in contacting their Senators to support the Marshall-Durbin Amendment, and we need to keep the pressure on during this brief recess. We need Senators to hear from their constituents on this issue,” said NACS General Counsel Doug Kantor. “Let’s continue to push the Senate for a vote to support this amendment.”

“This 20-plus-year battle for credit card reform could be decided by which industry best showcases its grassroots voice on the issue. Our industry engagement could be the difference in whether we finally get relief from outrageous swipe fees,” said NACS Senior Vice President of Government Relations Lyle Beckwith.

The Marshall-Durbin Amendment is supported by almost 2,000 companies and nearly 300 trade associations as well as a broad group of consumer, labor and pro-competition organizations.

NACS is calling on all industry advocates to contact their U.S. Senators now and urge them to support the Marshall-Durbin Amendment.