Sen. Marshall Holding Spending Bill Hostage over Credit Card Bill

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) is reportedly holding up a must-pass spending bill for vote on his and Sen. Dick Durbin’s (D-IL) special interest credit card bill.

Reports suggest that Marshall has “hotlined” an amendment on the Credit Card Competition Act as the Senate’s minibus spending bill, which contains half of the must-pass spending bills. Hotlining allows lawmakers to bypass regular Senate procedures.

Marshall also reportedly wants to receive a commitment to hold a hearing on his credit card bill and that this is facing opposition from some Senate Republicans. Airlines and credit card executives, which oppose the Durbin-Marshall bill, have resisted efforts to attend a planned hearing on the legislation

A spokesperson for Durbin said he is not holding up the spending bill over the credit card bill.

While Marshall is focusing on his controversial credit card bill, Republicans are demanding votes on immigration issues such as the Laken Riley Act.

Senior Republican staffers have taken issue with Marshall’s focus on his credit card bill.

“I wish Roger Marshall was as committed to securing the border as he is committed to a government takeover of the credit card industry,” a GOP aide told Breitbart News.

Durbin and Marshall hope that their bill will inject more competition into payment processing by requiring banks to work with at least one alternative payment network besides Visa and Mastercard, the dominant players in the industry. Critics of the bill contend that it would, in addition to severely compromising the security of payment processing, kill credit card rewards programs.

Brian Kelly, the founder of the Points Guy, said this week that the Marshall-Durbin bill would ax credit card rewards programs.

Kelly explained, “Look at how Americans are struggling, wages have not kept up for many people. Rewards are how you keep it together, whether to get gift cards for family events, or to use for travel. But, to take away a part of Americans’ bottom line, many families have baked in these rewards as part of how they get by.”

Kelly said that this bill is “terrible for consumers,” adding:

At the end of the day, we got to let lawmakers know that you are rattling the Hornet’s Nest, when you come for people’s points and travel. You are going to make travel, which is pretty tough these days, even worse. So, is that legislation you want to pass, is that your legacy, taking value from consumers and making travel and life harder? When we’re already hit with enough?

Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) also criticized claims that the Durbin-Marshall bill would lower costs. During the ABA Summit, Tester said he hopes that the bill would not advance through Congress.

He said that the “last time” Congress had a debate on this topic, “We were told if we did this it’ll save the consumers money.”

Sen. Marshall’s office has yet to respond to a request for comment.

Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.