It’s merchants who are trying to protect their profits

Retail lobbying groups will descend on Capitol Hill this morning. They’ll have a few things on their agenda, including arguing that Congress should keep the 2010 Durbin Amendment, which set price controls on debit interchange fees and imposed new regulations on the handling of debit transactions. We know what these groups, which primarily represent big-box merchants and franchisor corporations, will argue. They’ll say that the Durbin Amendment preserves a free market and that consumers will suffer without it.

As I’ve written in these pages before: Lawmakers shouldn’t believe these “alternative facts.” Here’s what’s really happening.

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