Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I usually do not get up in the morning and race to read the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal. It is not part of my morning routine. I do not agree with them on most of the positions they have taken and I have found many times the statements they make are sometimes grossly inaccurate. This morning was no exception. They printed an editorial on the issue of interchange fees on debit cards. They had some critical things to say, which is their right, and my responsibility as an elected official to absorb. I know folks on Wall Street and their friends in the press are not happy with the interchange reform which Congress passed last year. They are certainly entitled to their opinion, but they are not entitled to their own alternative reality. When I read this Wall Street Journal editorial this morning, I felt as though I had entered into some fact-free twilight zone. Swipe fee reform is an important issue. So the people who are following this debate understand what we are talking about; each time you use a credit card or a debit card to pay for something--a meal at a restaurant, groceries, pharmaceuticals, a donation to a charity, buying gas for your car--each time you do there is a fee that is charged to the merchant. That fee is charged by both the bank issuing the card and the underlying credit card company. It is called an interchange fee. And it is a fee that is imposed on businesses large and small all across America literally without negotiation.…”