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Op-Ed: Markup Of CHOICE Act Proves The Retailers Have No Clothes
In the Hans Christian Andersen tale the Emperor Has No Clothes, a king is convinced by two scam artists that they can weave him a suit that can only be seen by the best and brightest in the land. As the Emperor parades around naked, his subjects are fearful to comment because they don’t want to be viewed as stupid. It finally takes a child to blurt out what is clear to everyone – that indeed the emperor was wearing nothing at all. This story is reminiscent of the fairy tale retailers have been telling for the past seven years – trying to convince Congress that price controls on debit card interchange fees are beneficial to consumers and small businesses. Continue Reading
The Durbin amendment: The ultimate double whammy
The Financial CHOICE Act, which begins to untangle the web of harmful rules that Dodd Frank put in place, is likely to pass the House this week. That’s very good news for community banks and credit unions, but it doesn’t mean Congress’s work on financial reform is done. One CHOICE Act provision, repeal of the Durbin amendment, was left behind. That’s why, after wrapping up the CHOICE Act, the House Financial Services Committee must go back and pass Durbin amendment repeal again. It’s already done so in two separate congresses—because it’s the right thing to do. Repeal will help the community financial institutions that are the backbone of our economy. And it will prevent the retail industry from continuing to pick the pockets of consumers. Continue Reading
CEI’s Iain Murray: House GOP Forgets History of Price Controls
In what American Commitment President Phil Kerpen called “a gutless sacrifice of principle,” last week the House GOP capitulated to relentless lobbying from big retail interests by stripping language repealing price controls on debit card use from the Financial CHOICE Act. This is not only wrong because the effect of the price controls has been to increase costs for those on the margins of the banking system – the underbanked – but because price controls are always harmful. They distort the normal working of supply and demand and generally benefit most those whom they were not intended to help in the first place. Thus, for example, the debit card price controls were purported to help small merchants, but in many cases they saw their costs go up, as they lost access to deep discounts they had before the price controls were introduced (the price ceiling actually became a floor.) Continue … Continue reading
CEI Criticizes House for Capitulation on Durbin Amendment Price Controls
CEI financial policy expert Iain Murray criticized the House for stripping out repeal of the Durbin amendment yesterday from the Financial CHOICE Act. The House Republicans’ capitulation on Durbin repeal is a slap in the face for lower-income Americans. All the evidence suggests the cap on debit card interchange fees resulted in a windfall for retailers who failed to pass on savings to consumers. In fact, many of those consumers were hit by higher bank fees as banks sought to replace the lost income stream from processing debit card transactions. The result has been a net loss of around $25 billion a year for American consumers, most of it born by low-income households. The House had a chance to right this wrong, and they blew it. Continue Reading
NTU Disappointed Durbin Amendment Repeal Pulled From CHOICE
NTU’s Executive Vice President, Brandon Arnold, responded to the repeal of the Durbin amendment: National Taxpayers Union is extremely disappointed by the decision to remove language from the Financial CHOICE Act that would have repealed price controls on debit card swipe fees. While its supporters claim that the Durbin Amendment is a pro-consumer measure, it has instead been little more than a government-imposed windfall for the retail industry. Continue Reading
NAFCU: Economic Monitor finds support for CHOICE Act, Durbin repeal
NAFCU’s latest Economic & CU Monitor survey results, now available to member credit unions, show support among respondents for Congress’ move to implement the regulatory relief reforms found in the Financial CHOICE Act (H.R. 10), particularly the proposed repeal of the Durbin interchange amendment. H.R. 10 recently passed the House Financial Services Committee and awaits action by the House. Reports indicate that a vote on the bill could come as early as next month. Continue Reading
Heritage Action’s Sondra Clark: Dodd-Frank Has Crippled Our Economic Recovery
Have you noticed that free checking accounts are now nearly nonexistent, and locally owned stores are increasing the $5 minimum charge on debit cards? These are not the result of some financial conspiracy. They are a direct result of Dodd-Frank regulations. Continue Reading
EPC Praises Congressman Ted Budd’s Floor Speech in Favor of Durbin Amendment Repeal
The Electronic Payments Coalition (EPC) today praised Rep. Ted Budd’s (R-NC) remarks on the House floor calling for repeal of the Durbin amendment. Rep. Budd was a retailer before his election to Congress. “Rep. Budd proved once again today that he is an individual willing to stand up for free market principles and consumers,” said Molly Wilkinson, executive director of EPC. “The congressman highlighted the fact that big box merchants have broken their promises, keeping nearly $42 billion in savings from the Durbin amendment that they had promised to the American people, and harming community financial institutions in the process.” The congressman’s comments are backed up by 11 studies that prove that retailers did not pass on their savings from the Durbin amendment. These studies outline the other harmful effects of the provision, including the loss of free checking accounts and the erosion of interchange revenues at credit unions and … Continue reading
Megan Barth: Fixing Dodd-Frank From the Bottom Up
The fact that the House managed to cobble together the votes needed to pass Obamacare repeal should be a lesson to the House Leadership, which has for too long attempted to legislate from the top down. By giving conservatives like Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) a seat at the table, they managed to pass a bill that many in the media were already pronouncing dead. It is a lesson that did not escape House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX). Hensarling is stewarding the passage of Dodd-Frank reform legislation in the House. He crafted a true conservative reform bill that will create jobs, lift job-killing red-tape, and help get our economy moving again. Continue Reading
FreedomWorks: House Must Repeal the Durbin Amendment in Financial CHOICE Act
There has been much debate over the past week about the Financial CHOICE Act introduced by Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas). The bill, which FreedomWorks supports, would significantly reform the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that was passed in 2010 to purportedly address the causes of the 2007-2008 recession. One of the more important pieces of the CHOICE Act is its repeal of the Durbin amendment. The amendment has become a costly part of the legislation that is causing a drag on the financial sector of the economy, and it needs to be repealed. Continue Reading