WebProNews: Swipe Fee Showdown: Merchants Hijack Crypto Bill for Card Reform Clash
In a bold legislative maneuver, merchants and bipartisan senators are pressing to embed credit-card swipe fee reforms into cryptocurrency market structure legislation before the Senate Agriculture Committee. Nearly 350 trade associations, led by the Merchants Payments Coalition, urged the panel on January 26, 2026, to approve an amendment sponsored by Sens. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.). The push comes as the committee prepares for a markup on the Digital Asset Market Structure and Investor Protection Act, known as the Clarity Act, highlighting tensions between Main Street retailers and Wall Street banks amid soaring transaction costs.
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Credit Unions Today: Merchants Urge Senate To Attach Credit Card Competition Act To Crypto Bill
The Merchants Payments Coalition and hundreds of retail and business groups are urging the Senate Agriculture Committee to include the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) in pending cryptocurrency market-structure legislation, citing rising swipe fees and President Donald Trump’s recent endorsement of the measure.
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Mass Market Retailers: Retailers call on Senate to pass swipe‑fee amendment
The Merchants Payments Coalition and nearly 350 merchant trade associations urged the Senate Agriculture Committee to include the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) as an amendment to upcoming cryptocurrency marketplace legislation. The CCCA was recently endorsed by President Trump.
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Chain Drug Review: Retailers urge Senate to approve swipe‑fee amendment
The Merchants Payments Coalition and nearly 350 merchant trade associations urged the Senate Agriculture Committee to include the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) as an amendment to upcoming cryptocurrency marketplace legislation. The CCCA was recently endorsed by President Trump. “We call on you to choose Main Street merchants and American consumers over Wall Street megabanks and global card networks,” the organizations said in a letter to members of the committee. “While this legislation would benefit all merchants, it is small retailers who are calling for swipe fee reform more than any other segment of our industry. Small retailers have the narrowest profit margins and fewest resources and are hit hardest by continuing unjustified increases in swipe fees.”
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Gifts and Decorative Accessories: Merchants Push Senate Ag Committee to Approve Swipe Fee Reform in Crypto Legislation
The Merchants Payments Coalition and other merchant groups from across the country today urged the Senate Agriculture Committee to include the Credit Card Competition Act, which was recently endorsed by President Donald Trump, as part of cryptocurrency marketplace structure legislation. “We call on you to choose Main Street merchants and American consumers over Wall Street megabanks and global card networks,” the organizations said in a letter to members of the committee. “While this legislation would benefit all merchants, it is small retailers who are calling for swipe fee reform more than any other segment of our industry. Small retailers have the narrowest profit margins and fewest resources and are hit hardest by continuing unjustified increases in swipe fees.”
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Digital Transactions: Another CCCA Avenue?
The Merchants Payments Coalition released a letter from it and 350 merchant groups in support of the Credit Card Competition Act urging that the bill be attached to a proposed cryptocurrency marketplace structure legislation. The measure is expected to be discussed Tuesday by the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee.
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Merchants Urge Senate Ag Committee to Approve Credit Card ‘Swipe’ Fee Amendment to Cryptocurrency Legislation
MPC and other merchant groups from across the country urged the Senate Agriculture Committee to include the Credit Card Competition Act, which was recently endorsed by President Donald Trump, as part of cryptocurrency marketplace structure legislation.
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Compass Vermont: Peter Welch Wants to Lower Credit Card Costs; JP Morgan Says ‘Try It in Vermont First’
The Merchants Payments Coalition estimates that credit and debit card swipe fees totaled $236 billion in 2024, based on data from payments consultancy CMSPI. Divided across approximately 130 million American households, proponents calculate this represents roughly $1,200 to $1,800 per family annually.
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Merchants Say ‘The President is Right’ on High Credit Card Company Profits
MPC welcomed concern about excessive credit card company profits voiced by President Donald Trump during remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
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Payments Dive: Merchant lawyers laud surcharge option
“Their whole approach to that is wrong from the start, which is why the settlement is not helpful and why many, many merchants opposed it,” said Doug Kantor, general counsel of the National Association of Convenience Stores. Surcharges cause customers to “get upset about it and assume it’s the merchant doing something,” Kantor said Friday in a telephone call. Kantor is also an executive with the Merchants Payments Coalition, which has joined other merchant groups in battling the networks, including over the Credit Card Competition Act.
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