In January 2026, the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) was reintroduced in the US Senate by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Roger Marshall (R-KS), and in the US House of Representatives by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Congressman Lance Gooden (R-TX). Additionally, President Donald Trump endorsed the CCCA in a Truth Social post.
The CCCA was first introduced in 2022, but to date it has failed to gain the support needed to pass. The bill seeks to drive down merchant fees and reduce costs to consumers by increasing competition among US card networks.
In early March it was reported that Senators Durbin and Marshall are attempting to attach the legislation as an amendment to the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a major bill that will be moving to the Senate floor for a vote in March. Even if this happens, the likelihood of success is unclear as previous attempts to pass the CCCA by adding it as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act and the GENIUS Act both failed.
In January it was reported that Senator Marshall attempted to add an amendment similar to the CCCA to cryptocurrency legislation being marked up by the Senate Agriculture Committee but was convinced not to proceed as this would have jeopardized the passage of the crypto bill.
The CCCA seeks to drive down merchant fees by increasing competition among US credit card networks, weakening Visa's and Mastercard's market dominance. It directs the Federal Reserve to issue regulations covering issuing banks with over $100 billion in assets. Under the proposed regulations, these banks will not be allowed to restrict the number of networks on which an electronic credit transaction may be processed to less than two unaffiliated networks, at least one of which cannot be one of the two largest networks. Merchants will have the right to choose the network through which their payments are processed.
Opponents of the bill assert that it will impose new costs on consumers and community banks, pose security risks and end credit card rewards programs. One of their key arguments is that retailers will not pass the proceeds of any fee reduction on to consumers. As evidence, they point to a 2014 study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond which found that in response to the 2011 Durbin Amendment that capped interchange fees on debit cards, only 2% of merchants lowered their prices while 23% increased them.
