MPC Hill Blast: The Tell
There is a long history of detecting deception by finding the key inconsistency in what someone says. ...The latest example from the bank lobby is their overwrought protestations that adding the Marshall-Durbin Amendment (the Credit Card Competition Act) to the GENIUS Act would be a “poison pill” sinking the GENIUS Act.
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Digital Transactions: Battle Lines Harden Over a Proposed CCCA Amendment to the GENIUS Act
“Labor’s position is very clear here, some of the largest unions in the country support the CCCA,” says Doug Kantor, an executive committee member for the Merchants Payments Coalition and general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores. “While there are unions that do not support the amendment, they are tiny in comparison.”
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The West News: Credit Card Competition Act: A Closer Look at the Swipe-Fee Reform
Groups like the Merchants Payments Coalition say lower fees could translate to cheaper goods, or at least slower price increases.
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Merchants Say Endorsement by Unions Shows ‘People Who Work for a Living’ Want Credit Card Swipe Fee Reform
MPC welcomed the endorsement of the Credit Card Competition Act by four of the nation’s largest unions – the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Union, the Service Employees International Union and the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union.
READ MORE +MPC Hill Blast: Military Families Need the Marshall-Durbin Amendment
hat message has come through loud and clear from the American Logistics Association and the Armed Forces Marketing Council. Those two groups represent military PX stores.
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Punchbowl News: Lobbyists duel over swipe fee push
We spoke to two key lobbyists. Richard Hunt leads the bank- and payment-company backed Electronic Payments Coalition, and Doug Kantor is a member of the Merchants Payments Coalition. Both are projecting confidence. “We’re advocating for the Marshall-Durbin amendment all the ways we know how,” Kantor said. “We’ve had folks here every month since the beginning of the year, and we have folks here again this week too.” ... Kantor argued the CCCA would loosen the dominance of large credit card players. “You need the Credit Card Competition Act in order to clear the way for stablecoin to see its potential, because otherwise the big credit card companies will lock it, dominate it,” Kantor said. As for a vote: Both lobbies think they’ll win a vote on the CCCA if it comes to the floor. “We’ve had these conversations with every office multiple times, and we have a pretty good feel for where people are,” Kantor said.
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New York Times: How a crypto bill could clamp down on credit card fees
“There’s desperate need for a change,” Doug Kantor, an executive committee member of the Merchants Payments Coalition, told DealBook, “and the legislation itself is the lightest possible touch in terms of a change.”
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MarketWatch: Battle over credit-card swipe fees hits Congress again. What you need to know.
The Merchants Payments Coalition, a lobbying group for retailers and other companies that support the credit-card legislation, said in a recent statement that it’s “time for Congress to deal with the hidden credit-card fees driving up the prices of nearly everything we buy.”
READ MORE +MPC Hill Blast: Needing Dollars, Iran-Backed Militias Turn To Visa and Mastercard – WSJ
“Needing Dollars, Iran-Backed Militias Turn To Visa and Mastercard” In case you missed it, that was the headline of a May 31 news story from the Wall Street Journal. The story makes a number of revelations.
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New York Times: Gen Z Doesn’t Want to Start a Bar Tab
“During and after the pandemic, more people started using cards,” said Doug Kantor, an executive committee member of the Merchants Payments Coalition, a retailers group. ... Credit card fees, which soared 80 percent from 2020 to 2024, according to Mr. Kantor of the Merchants Payments Coalition, are one of the highest operating costs for bars and restaurants besides labor and rent.
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