Anti-tax group: We’re scoring debit card vote

Banks currently charge an average of 44 cents per debit-card transactions. But under the Federal Reserve’s current plan, that figure would be reduced to seven to 12 cents per transaction. Banks with under $10 billion in assets are exempt from the Fed’s rules.

The limitations on debit-card fees were included in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform bill that was passed last year and are most closely associated with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)

Durbin, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, has said he will fight any attempt to delay the regulations. The retail community is also opposed to any delay, while the banking community is generally supportive.

Americans for Tax Reform had said they were using the vote in their congressional scorecard before Tester and the others senators announced the new plan, but a spokesman for the group said that did not change their thinking.

“We support any effort to stall these regulations before they take effect,” John Kartch told The Hill in an e-mail.

In a Tuesday announcement, ATR also said it believed that capping interchange fees would merely shift costs to banks and consumers. The group was also strongly against the Durbin amendment as it was passing last year, and said it was one of the major reasons to oppose the Dodd-Frank bill as a whole. 

“The interchange fee regulations violate free-market principles and property rights, setting below-cost price controls and depriving card issuers of a return on capital invested,” ATR said on Tuesday.

Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, has also signaled that banks with under $10 billion in assets could be injured by the regulations. 

But Durbin has said the measure will help consumers and that the current system is too generous to the largest banks and credit card companies.