On the recordMarch 31, 2011
I rise today on behalf of rural America. All of Montana is rural America. Despite good intentions, rural America too often gets overlooked when we pass bills here in the Senate. That is what happened when this body passed an amendment limiting debit card interchange fees last year. It was an attempt to address a problem. But like people on both sides of the aisle, I voted against it. I knew it was a mistake because it had unintended consequences that would hurt rural America. It is a mistake now. Since we took that vote, the regulators have said that the small issuer exemption for banks and credit unions with assets of less than $10 billion--which is what that amendment said and the reason why many Members supported the amendment--simply won't work. In a Banking Committee hearing back in February, Chairman Bernanke said: We are not certain how effective that exemption will be. There is some risk that that exemption will not be effective and that the interchange fees available through smaller institutions will be reduced to the same extent that we would see for larger banks. At that same hearing, FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair, referring to small banks and credit unions, said: I think it remains to be seen whether they can be protected with this. I think they're going to have to make it up somewhere, probably by raising fees that they have on transaction accounts.…
