Banks Lose and Retailers Win -- Senate Rejects the Tester-Corker Amendment to Delay Rule Capping Debit Card Fees
The attempt to delay the implementation of the “Durbin Amendment” – Sen. Richard Durbin’s (D-IL) amendment to the Dodd Frank Act that would cap what banks can charge for debit card interchange or “swipe fees” –failed to collect the 60 votes needed in the Senate this afternoon. Sponsored by Sens. Tester (D-MT) and Corker (R-TN), the amendment fell short by six votes -- the final count was 54-45.
Currently, swipe fees average 44 cents per transaction and generate more than $12 billion annually for financial institutions. Under the new Dodd-Frank framework, the fees would be capped at 12 cents per transaction starting on July 21, 2011 (the one-year anniversary of Dodd-Frank’s enactment).
The swipe fee debate has pitted banks against retailers and forced many in Congress to choose among friends. Banks have insisted that the current swipe fees are necessary to pay for security and consumer protections included with these transactions and to keep other banking fees low. Retailers have countered that the high fees force them to raise prices and are hurting small retailers. With Fortune 50 companies on both sides, both the banks and the retailers launched considerable lobbying efforts.
Though the retailers prevailed by a narrow margin, the banks did pick up some unlikely support. The Durbin amendment passed last year by a vote of 64-33. Of the 56 members still in the Senate who originally voted with Sen. Durbin, only 45 Senators today voted in support of Durbin’s position. The Tester-Corker amendment picked up eight cosponsors yesterday, four of whom voted for the Durbin Amendment last year: Sens. Michael Bennet (D-CO), Chris Coons (D-DE), Kay Hagan (D-NC) and Mike Crapo (R-ID). The Senators said they changed their positions due to concern over the Durbin amendment’s impact on small banks. Even more surprising, House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Barney Frank (D-MA) announced this morning that he supports the Tester-Corker amendment and believes that the interchange fee cap requires further study.
Sen. Corker said it is unlikely that the Senate will address this matter again during this Congress. Meanwhile, several states, including Minnesota, Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, are currently considering bills that would give retailers the authority to choose which cards to accept based on the cards’ associated fees.
