A forthcoming Republican bill to reshape the financial regulatory system is expected to kick off “one of the largest industry-versus-industry lobbying battles ever.”
A report in the Washington Examiner said the House Financial Services Committee is set to release a new version of last year’s Financial Choice Act in a matter of weeks. “The bill would undo many of the regulations in President Barack Obama’s 2010 Wall Street reform law and touch on almost every aspect of the financial system,” the report said.
In a previous version of the bill, there was a call for a repeal to the cap on debit card swipe fees instituted as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law. “Repealing the provision, known as the Durbin Amendment, pits retailers, restaurants, convenience stores and others that process card transactions against banks. Billions of dollars are on the line annually,” the Examiner report said.
A 2011 legislative effort to prevent the cap from being implemented led to a reported $30 million being spent on lobbying by both sides.
Austen Jensen, the vice president for government affairs for the Retail Industry Leaders Association, a retail trade group, told the newspaper that he expected the updated version of the bill to include the Durbin Amendment repeal and for a “robust effort” to stop it once the legislation clears the Financial Services Committee.