Political Quotes

“I want to associate myself with the gentleman from Vermont's remarks and urge my colleagues not to be swayed by the lobbyists from the credit card companies that are trying to eliminate the Durbin amendment from this important legislation. Let me make this point clear. The compromise reached in the conference committee does not eliminate the interchange fee or allow the Federal Government to set the interchange fee. The amendment simply creates a level playing field for banks and small businesses to negotiate interchange fees like any other business contract. The Sheetz Corporation, which has 363 stores in 6 States, is headquartered in my district, and last year, the Sheetz Corporation paid twice as much in interchange fees as they took in in net income after tax. Their second largest expense after payroll is the interchange fee. That means that for Sheetz, the interchange fee eclipsed the company's cost in rent for their 363 stores, and they are paying 1rac{1}{2} imes the cost of providing health care to their nearly 13,000 employees. The compromise reached by the conference committee benefits merchants, retains flexibility of small community banks and credit unions, and ultimately benefits the American consumer. I urge the conference committee and my colleagues to support the Durbin amendment.”