I am proud and appreciative to know that Senator Durbin, representing my state, has taken the lead in exposing the credit card companies unfair system and trying to change it.

Thank you very much for being here. I am looking forward to the follow-up information that you promised.

I think your amendment goes after the important problem that debit cards are being treated as if they are credit cards.

The interchange fee is negotiated with----

I would like to ask you this question too. Is Joseph Saunders still the CEO of Visa?

If we do not take steps to reasonably regulate this system, a dollar will not be worth a dollar anymore.

You have not negotiated with them?

I think that all of us will benefit with lower prices and more choices.

if the Federal Government cannot negotiate against MasterCard and Visa and their member banks, how can I as the operator of 11 convenience stores in Springfield, Illinois do something about it?

And although the Treasury has held direct and indirect discussions with the card networks over the years in attempts to reduce the Federal Government's card acquiring costs, rates have never been open to negotiation.

The Durbin Amendment requires the credit card companies to be competitive and allows us to deliver an option to our customers.

a system of two-tiered rates, such as the one embodied in Senator Durbin's interchange amendment, should not affect the Federal Government

I think it is a broken market, and that is clearly the problem here.

I think your amendment is a very thoughtfully crafted amendment and will do a great deal to move this process forward.

Our company pays a higher interchange fee rate now than do our big box competitors.

And you are going to provide us with some examples of that, some evidence of that, please?

I am pleased to convene this hearing before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government.

So under current law, could I have a business that just takes Visa cards and not MasterCards?

Reform will actually help small businesses more than large businesses because debit rates will have to be related to the banks' actual cost of issuing them.

So it appears that some card networks in other countries have been more successful than the United States of America.

It seems that there is something missing in the equation when there is no competition.

But $8 billion worth of buying power in the Federal Government is not enough to entice them to give the taxpayers a similar break?

Well, now wait a minute. Do not get carried away.

I welcome my distinguished ranking member, Senator Susan Collins of the great State of Maine.

the impact on Federal entities of a two tiered system of interchange rates like the one included in Senator Durbin's interchange amendment