Advocacy Update

​Interchange efforts continue full throttle as CUNA and Leagues reveal research on how government price controls increase consumer costs and reduce security. 

The House and Senate remain in session this week with lawmakers continuing to work on legislation, including the National Defense Authorization (NDAA) and appropriations bills. In addition, the House of Representatives will consider H.R. 3935 - the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act; and H.R. 3941 – the Schools Not Shelters Act. The Senate will also consider the National Defense Authorization Act.

Our interchange efforts continue full throttle, following a busy week rolling out our CUNA and the Leagues research on The True Impact of Interchange Regulation: How Government Price Controls Increase Consumer Costs and Reduce Security. We are starting off this week with another Hill communication, highlighting the impact of fraud and merchants’ failure to protect against it, with our digital ads circulating on Capitol Hill.
 
As retailers visited Capitol Hill last week to support the interchange changes in S. 1838 and H.R. 3881, we countered with data underscoring the negative impact of the Durbin Amendment and showing why Congress should not double down on a bad idea with these new bills.
 
Adding to the interchange mix – the House and Senate considered the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) last week, a must-pass bill that becomes an annual vehicle for amendments. The House voted to pass the NDAA without any interchange language. However, Senators Durbin, Marshall and Welch have introduced amendments for Senate consideration this week - including their Big Box credit card interchange language and Amendment 177 that would require a report on credit and debit card user fees at commissary stores and MWR facilities.
 
Credit union leaders have sent more than 33,000 messages to congress since June 1. Be sure to check out the Credit Union Interchange Messaging Guide for helpful talking points and statistics.
 
CUNA also submitted a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee regarding its markup of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2024. Addressed to the Chairs and Ranking Members of the full committee as well as the subcommittee, CUNA outlined its priorities in the bill such as full funding for the CDRLF, the CDFI Fund, and FinCEN, among others.

Finally, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced it launched two funding opportunity notices totaling $20 billion across two grant competitions under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction (GHGR) Fund. The EPA noted “these competitive grant opportunities will mobilize private capital into clean technology projects.”
 
Feel free to contact Jeff Olson or Amy Kleinschmit with any advocacy questions or concerns.