Visa and Mastercard's long-standing monopoly in the payments sector has significantly raised costs for consumers and small businesses. The imminent arrival of the GENIUS Act presents a crucial and urgent opportunity to rectify this market failure and bring about much-needed change. The time to act is now. 

Swipe fees levied by Visa and Mastercard have ballooned over the last decade, with merchants shelling out nearly three times what they paid just a decade prior. For Visa and Mastercard alone, that number totaled over $111 billion in 2024, a 10 percent jump from the year prior. Fee hikes paired with the desire by more Americans to pay with a credit card have led swipe fees to become the second-highest operating expense behind labor for so many businesses.

This relentless surge in costs is pushing businesses, especially small ones, to the brink, forcing them to raise prices and burdening consumers with swipe fees. The average American family now pays almost $1,200 more yearly due to increased prices from swipe fees. In a time when many are still grappling with the effects of inflation, every dollar counts.

That's why it's critical Congress includes the Marshall-Durbin Amendment in the GENIUS Act. This amendment, named after its sponsors, Senators Marshall and Durbin, would ensure merchants can choose between at least two network options when processing a credit card transaction. Instead of being forced to accept excessive fees from Visa or Mastercard, businesses could choose an alternative network that would provide the same or even better services at a more affordable price. Market competition would incentivize these credit card behemoths to lower their fees to a more reasonable rate and bolster services like security protections.

Competition has always been a cornerstone of our economic system. It has propelled the United States to succeed, with businesses striving to outdo each other, innovating to provide more for less. This is why now-Vice President JD Vance supported this legislation. Currently grappling with swipe fees, small businesses fight daily to keep their doors open. It's only fair that Visa and Mastercard compete on a level playing field, and the Marshall-Durbin Amendment ensures just that.

The Marshall-Durbin Amendment also takes special care to ensure it only targets bad actors by applying its provisions to financial institutions with over $100 billion in assets. This means small banks and local credit unions will be left untouched, allowing them to continue providing critical financial services to the communities they know best.

The Republican Party is no longer a doormat for corporate interests to stomp all over small businesses and crush all competition surrounding them. Corporations like Visa and Mastercard need to be held accountable by Congress. While this is bipartisan legislation, the new GOP, with its control of the United States Senate, needs to back this piece of legislation to give power back to the everyday American citizen, and take away corporate shortcuts, such as swipe fees, that continue to be abused by corporations that do not have the everyday American in mind, and continue to limit small businesses on the options they have to thrive. The American economy has to be one that allows the middle class to thrive and allows small businesses owned by those same Americans not to feel abused by a system that aligns with corporate interests over all else.

With its vote to consider the GENIUS Act, Congress has signalled its willingness to begin regulating and adopting the payments industry of the future. However, to make that leap successful, they must correct the failures that have allowed Visa and Mastercard to raise swipe fees unchecked. Main Street has always been the backbone of the American economy, and Congress should reinforce that by ensuring the Marshall-Durbin Amendment becomes law.