Has the CCCA Reached the End of the Road?

With the odds against the Credit Card Competition Act coming to a vote before the current Congress adjourns growing by the day, the bill’s future appears bleak.

Prospects that the bill might advance received a major blow last week as Sen. Thom Tillis said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about credit card swipe fees the bill  “is not going to pass” in the current Congress.

Further casting doubt on the bill’s future is that, while a spokesperson for Sen. Richard Durbin, a co-sponsor of the bill, says by email the Illinois Senator “will continue to push for a vote on the Senate floor in the remaining time [before Congress adjourns]”, she was non-committal about whether Durbin or his co-sponsor, Sen. Roger Marshall, plans to reintroduce the proposal in the next Congress, which will be seated Jan. 3.

“We will circle back after the 119th Congress begins. Senator Marshall has been an important ally in introducing the bill the last two Congresses,” the spokesperson said when asked about prospects for reintroducing the bill in the next Congress.

Sen. Marshall’s office did not respond to inquiries about the future of the CCCA.

The legislation would require financial institutions with $100 billion or more in assets to enable at least one network other than Visa or Mastercard for credit card transaction processing. Proponents see the bill as a bid to reduce merchants’ card-acceptance costs by increasing network competition.

Observers are also citing the change in administration coming in January as a major factor likely to keep the CCCA from being reintroduced.

“I don’t see the CCCA going anywhere in the current Congress or the next,” says Eric Cohen, chief executive and founder of Merchant Advocate, a Colts Neck,  N.J.-based consultancy focused on helping merchants reduce their card-processing costs. “Republicans will have control of Congress beginning next year and they are not as inclined to add more regulation and tend to let businesses be.”

Processors express the same sentiments. “Under a Trump administration, the dynamics change,” Michael Seaman, chief executive for Swipesum, a Clayton, Mo.-based processor, says by email. “Historically, Republicans prioritize deregulation to promote free-market principles, which makes passing the CCCA nearly impossible. With deregulation expected to dominate the agenda [of the next administration], the bill’s passage will demand unified support and a carefully crafted strategy.”

A strategy that enables the bill to come to a vote will require incorporating lessons learned from prior failures to advance the bill, according to Seaman. The bill was first introduced in 2022.

The bill’s failure to get a vote in this session of Congress “doesn’t mean the fight is over,” Seaman says. “The bill will evolve, incorporating lessons learned from this session, and will be reintroduced in the next Congress.”

Some members of the Senate Judiciary Committee urged representatives of Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. and members of the merchant community attending last week’s hearing to negotiate a settlement of their decades-old battle over credit card swipe fees before Congress takes action, but the prospects for that happening are slim.

“Large merchants can and do negotiate rates, but I don’t see that happening for small merchants,” Cohen says. “There are some points in the CCCA that are valid and should be looked at, but I don’t see anything occurring with it in the next 12 [to] 24 months.”