Factcheck: Sen. Marshall Repeats Debunked Talking Points in Mega-Store Ad
“Sen. Marshall seems to be on a fanatical crusade for corporate mega-stores … He has become a mouthpiece for the largest corporate mega-stores, lobbying his colleagues in a paid ad using debunked, false talking points.”
WASHINGTON, DC—Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), according to a report in Punchbowl News, recorded an advocacy commercial paid for by the Merchant Payments Coalition, a DC trade group funded by the nation’s largest corporate mega-stores. In the ad, Sen. Marshall repeats the inaccurate claims MPC and other supporters of the Durbin-Marshall Credit Card Bill have made in their lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill.
“Sen. Marshall seems to be on a fanatical crusade for corporate mega-stores,” said Electronic Payments Coalition Executive Chairman Richard Hunt. “He joined Sen. Durbin to weaponize the CFPB and Department of Transportation against workers and companies opposing their experimental mandates on Americans’ credit cards and now he has become a mouthpiece for the largest corporate mega-stores, lobbying his colleagues in a paid ad using debunked, false talking points.”
Despite the constant erroneous repetition by Sens. Marshall and Durbin and mega-store lobbyists, credit card interchange rates have remained flat at approximately 1.8% for nearly a decade. Earlier this year, the leading credit card networks and merchants – 90% of which were small businesses – agreed to lower interchange rates. When the settlement was announced, Sens. Marshall and Durbin, along with the largest stores, objected. Walmart even wrote in its court filing that small local merchants “traded away the interests of large national merchants for relief that is worthless to the members with the most at stake in this litigation.” Further proof this is not about helping small businesses or consumers.
Additionally, merchants sign agreements to accept credit card payments with the terms and rates clearly explained and only pay higher processing costs when their sales increase proportionally.
The independent Congressional Research Service examined the Durbin-Marshall Credit Card Bill and concluded “it is not clear whether retailers would pass interchange savings on to consumers” and that “it is unclear who would benefit” from the proposed Durbin-Marshall mandates. Additionally, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond found 98% of retailers either raised prices or kept them the same following government price caps on debit card interchange.
The European Union placed government price caps on credit card interchange in 2015. As a result, the number of credit card options available to EU citizens decreased by 14% between 2014 and 2018; cardholders in the EU paid significantly higher fees; and rewards were drastically diminished as compared to U.S. reward programs. Additionally, a study from the National Federation of Independent Businesses reported more small business owners say credit card payment processing costs are “not a problem” compared to those reporting it as a critical one. The NFIB’s report, overall, did not even have credit card processing in the top 20 concerns small business owners reported, well below the cost of health care, taxes, utilities, and government paperwork.