Prairie State Wire

Richard Hunt, executive chairman of the Electronic Payment Coalition (EPC), said today that U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has requested a federal hearing on airline credit card and rewards programs as “retribution” for the airline industry’s opposition to Durbin’s proposed credit card regulations.

“This hearing is just the latest stop on Senators Durbin and (Sen. Roger) Marshall’s ongoing retribution tour,” said Hunt in a statement. “When the tide is against them, they resort to weaponizing the federal government against American companies opposing their attempts to place new government mandates on your credit card.”

S. 1838, the "Credit Card Competition Act of 2023," originally sponsored by Durbin and Marshall (R-Kansas) would require banks to offer merchants at least two network options, one of which cannot be Visa or Mastercard, for processing credit card transactions. 

Several airline industry organizations, including Airlines for America, are opposing the legislation. 

Airlines for America sent a letter to Durbin and Marshall last July that said the bill “will jeopardize payment security while failing to address the costs, risks and unintended consequences of this proposed policy on popular credit card rewards programs like the ones our customers use every day to make travel more accessible and affordable.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation and CFPB yesterday announced a joint hearing on airline reward programs, reported The Points Guy. 

EPC, in its release, shared a link to a press release in which Durbin originally requested the hearing last October, following the airline industry’s opposition to S. 1838. 

The Illinois Bankers Association and Illinois Credit Union System both are listed by EPC as part of a coalition of groups opposing the legislation, which is currently pending in the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.