Political Quotes

“I wish to speak briefly about interchange fee reform, an issue I have worked on for many years and an issue which was taken up just recently last Thursday when the Federal Reserve considered legislation we passed in the Senate and House of Representatives and sent to them to establish regulations. It was an effort to bring reasonable regulation to a $20 billion annual debit card interchange fee system industry. The Federal Reserve released draft regulations that will implement the new law Congress enacted. Back in May, when the Senate was debating the Wall Street reform bill, I offered an amendment. I am honored that 64 Senators voted for it, including 17 Republicans. It was a bipartisan success. It is now the law of the land. The Federal Reserve is moving forward to make sure our law is implemented in a fair way. The Fed announced, according to their investigation, it costs the banks between 7 and 12 cents to process a debit card transaction. But the Fed reported that big banks and card networks charge merchants, retailers, charities, universities, and others an average debit interchange fee--not 7 to 12 cents--of 44 cents. The Fed has confirmed what consumers and retailers long suspected. They are being overcharged and gouged for each purchase made with a debit card. Merchants and their customers are being charged more than three times what the transactions cost.”