Political Quotes

“Madam President, I have an amendment which has been filed and is at the desk, and a modification of that amendment, which I wish to explain for a moment. It is an amendment related to interchange fees. Interchange fees are the fees charged to commercial establishments which accept credit cards. So if I owned a restaurant and accepted Visa or MasterCard, when my customer, who has a bill, presents the credit card to pay for it, then I have to pay a percentage of that bill to the credit card company. That is called the interchange fee. That is separate and apart from the customer's relationship with the credit card company. This is the relationship of the merchant, the retail establishment, the small business, with the credit card company. Unfortunately, over the years, small businesses across America have had little or no bargaining power with the major credit card companies. They impose interchange fees on these businesses, and if you speak to some of the small businesses in Illinois or across the Nation, you will find that many of them feel they are being treated unfairly. Let me give you an example. About half of the transactions that take place now using plastic are with credit cards, and there is a fee charged--usually 1 or 2 percent of the actual amount that is charged to the credit card. It is understandable because the credit card company is creating this means of payment.…”