One part of the Financial CHOICE Act, House Republicans dropped language that would have repealed the debit swipe fee reforms which have saved businesses and consumers billions of dollars since being implemented under Dodd-Frank.
Late last week, the House passed a bill to roll back some of the strongest Wall Street regulations spurred by the U.S. financial crisis.
The Financial CHOICE Act, a massive bill from Republican Rep. Jeb Hensarling, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, would do away with many of the protections in the landmark Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
One part of the measure, House Republicans dropped language that would have repealed the debit swipe fee reforms which have saved businesses and consumers billions of dollars since being implemented under Dodd-Frank.
NACS’ CHOICE
Lyle Beckwith, senior vice president of government relations for the National Association for Convenience Stores (NACS), explained the group’s enthusiasm for the House passage of the Financial CHOICE Act of 2017, which underlines debit swipe fee reform.
“NACS applauds the fact that clearer heads in Congress have prevailed, and the House has protected debit swipe fee reform,” said Beckwith. “Eliminating this reform would have been an endorsement of duopoly price-fixing of swipe fees by the credit-card behemoths and would cost consumers and Main Street retailers $8 billion per year.
“We want to thank the members of Congress who stood tall for everyday citizens and made it clear that debit swipe fee reform has been good for their constituents. They made clear that any bill that would repeal those debit reforms cannot pass the House of Representatives.”
The bill passed 233-186 with 11 abstaining.