On the recordApril 14, 2011
I rise, once again, on behalf of rural America. Many folks do not understand rural America. They often get painted in broad brush strokes in a way that does not reflect the reality we face. The Montanans who elected me sent me to bring common sense to the debate over issues that impact rural America. One issue where there is not a lot of common sense is the issue of debit interchange. There is also a lot of misinformation out there about this issue. I have been concerned about the unintended consequences of this proposed rule since the Senate voted on the provision last year. That is why I voted against the amendment when it came to the floor for a vote. Over the past few months, I have been attacked by the big box retailers and called just about every name in the book. My legislation to study the impact of the Fed's proposed rule has been called a bailout. That is pretty interesting, since I was the only Democrat in the Senate to vote against both bailouts. Only in Washington do people say you are killing a bill by making sure it does what we want it to do. I certainly do not think the goal of the interchange amendment was to engage in price fixing. I do not think folks were trying to hurt consumers or small community banks and credit unions. But now we know the impact of this provision is far different than the information we had when we passed the amendment. Now we know that the regulators tasked with implementing this rule think it may not work at all.…
