FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: J. Craig Shearman
(202) 257-3678 craig@shearmancommunications.com
WASHINGTON, August 8, 2026 — The Merchants Payments Coalition today welcomed the addition of three new Senate cosponsors of the Credit Card Competition Act.
“Thank you to Senators Moreno, Lummis and King,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores General Counsel Doug Kantor said. “Each of these senators deserves credit for standing up to Wall Street megabanks and global card networks. Main Street businesses and their everyday customers will benefit. Swipe fees have been driving up the price of just about everything for far too long and we appreciate these senators striking a blow to stop it.”
As the Senate prepared to leave Washington Friday night for its summer recess, Sens. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio; Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., and Angus King, I-Maine, signed on as cosponsors of the CCCA.
The senators join existing sponsors Sens. Roger Marshall, R-Kan.; Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., to give the bill three Republicans, two Democrats and one independent. Moreno and Lummis are the first members of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over the legislation, to cosponsor the bill.
House sponsors include Reps. Lance Gooden, R-Texas; Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., Thomas Tiffany, R-Wis.; Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J.; Derek Tran, D-Calif.; Abraham Hamadeh, R-Ariz.; Mark DeSaulnier, D-Calif., and James McGovern, D-Mass.
The addition of the senators to the bill comes just days after President Donald Trump endorsed the CCCA for the second time this year, saying it is needed to “stop the out of control Swipe Fee ripoff” and that Marshall, the lead Senate sponsor, is “working tirelessly” to pass it. And Durbin called for passage of the legislation during a Senate Judiciary Committee subcommittee hearing this week.
In addition to Trump’s support, Vice President J.D. Vance was a cosponsor of the legislation while in the Senate.
Credit card and debit card swipe fees hit a record $198.25 billion in 2025 and are most merchants’ highest operating cost after labor, driving up prices by more than $1,200 a year for the average family.
The fees are rising because of lack of competition. Visa and Mastercard, which control 80% of the market, each centrally set the swipe fee rates charged by all banks that issue cards under their brands and also restrict processing to their own networks. The CCCA would address that by requiring banks with at least $100 billion in assets to enable credit cards to be processed over at least one unaffiliated network like Star, NYCE or Shazam in addition to Visa or Mastercard. The measure is expected to result in competition over fees, security and service that would save merchants and their customers $17 billion a year and result in the gain of 54,000 retail jobs in the first year alone.
About MPC
The Merchants Payments Coalition represents retailers, supermarkets, convenience stores, gasoline stations, online merchants and others fighting for a more competitive and transparent card system that is fair to consumers and merchants. Follow MPC on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn for the latest on swipe fees.