NTU urges all Senators to vote "NO" on the following amendments: #1161, #1143, #1240, #1225.
NTU urges all Senators to vote "YES" on the following amendments: #1182, #1226, #1121, #1152, #1169.
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NTU urges all Senators to vote "NO" on S.A. 1161, the Credit Card Competition Act.
The Credit Card Competition Act is the expansion of poor policy and government overreach that was inserted into the Dodd-Frank reform legislation. This amendment, led by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), established price controls on swipe fees for debit card transactions. NTU opposed the initial Durbin Amendment at the time, and the results have been extremely negative for consumers - higher overdraft fees, ATM fees, reduced services and rewards and increased minimum balances.
Now, Senators Durbin and Marshall (R-KS) are seeking to expand this disastrous policy to credit card swipe fees. Beyond the obvious government overreach into businesses' affairs, this will gravely harm consumers themselves. This will most certainly destroy many benefits and perks that consumers have come to love from their credit cards, and result in several harmful changes including: higher annual fees, lower credit access, lower cash back rewards, and lower rewards points and redemption overall. At a time when credit card balances are at all time highs, and Americans can ill afford further squeezes to their spending power, this Amendment should be rejected by the Senate.
Further NTU Resources:
NTU Blog: War on Credit Card Fees will Hurt America's Poor
NTU Blog: Congress Wants to Take Away Your Credit Card Points
NTU Press Release: Durbin 2.0 Reboot Will Kick Consumers, Taxpayers in Their Wallets
NTU urges all Senators to vote "NO" on S.A. 1143, which would provide funding for a voucher for homelessness under the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
This would plus up the current appropriations amount for Homelessness Assistance Grants by $290 million, while also increasing FY2024 appropriations by $3.5 billion using American Rescue Plan Act authority. Any additional spending in one area should be accompanied by offsets elsewhere to avoid increasing the federal deficit further. Also, using ARPA authority should not be the vehicle to extend homelessness vouchers. A new congressional authority should be created with appropriate controls rather than using an outdated vehicle.
NTU urges all Senators to vote "NO" on S.A. 1240, which would provide increased funding for the federal-state intercity rail partnerships under Department of Transportation.
This amendment by Senator Booker (D-NJ) significantly boosts federal taxpayers' funding of projects with localized impact within the Northeast Corridor from $100 million in the current legislation to $1.5 billion. Federal taxpayers should not be subjected to taking on additional debt to favor certain localities infrastructure.
NTU urges all Senators to vote "NO" on S.A. 1225, the which would cap credit card interest rates at 18%.
This amendment by Senator Hawley (R-MO) would significantly harm consumers access to everyday credit, similar to how the Durbin amendment destroyed debit card rewards and state rate caps on short-term lending have harmed consumers' access to emergency credit. Beyond being an aggressive overreach of the federal government into private sector contracts between individuals and companies, this rule would ensure that a vast segment of subprime borrowers do not have any access to credit to stretch their purchasing power. Many families depend on credit cards to cover them in emergencies, to gain substantial rewards, and to protect from fraud. Such a rate cap would effectively box millions of individuals out of the credit market entirely while having disastrous impacts on industry and consumers alike. Finally, this misguided proposal could also raise the annual card fees and reduce rewards for consumers still eligible to receive credit card approvals.
Roll call votes on the above amendments will be significantly weighted in NTU’s annual Rating of Congress and a “NO” vote will be considered the pro-taxpayer position.
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NTU urges all Senators to vote "YES" on S.A. 1182, which will eliminate earmark spending from this appropriations package.
The Senate should support Senator Braun’s (R-IN) amendment to prohibit the hundreds of millions of dollars in congressionally-directed spending items and uphold the principle of fiscal responsibility. The Senate should also reform the appropriations process to make it more transparent, accountable, and efficient. With an overhaul of the appropriations process, the Senate would restore public confidence in its stewardship of taxpayer dollars. An excellent first step would be to ban the use of earmarks in the 2024 appropriations bills. NTU applauds Senator Braun for his leadership on this issue.
NTU urges all Senators to vote "YES" on S.A. 1226, which will eliminate billions of dollars in taxpayer spending from the legislation and would claw back $25 billion in unobligated spending.
Senator Paul's (R-KY) amendment would significantly reduce federal spending under the Agriculture/FDA and the THUD divisions and claw back significant sums for taxpayers.
NTU urges all Senators to vote "YES" on S.A. 1121, which would enhance reporting on rulemaking by the executive branch, increase Congressional authority to review agency regulation and expand it to non-major rules.
Senator Lee's (R-UT) amendment would enhance congressional ability to review rules from federal agencies, establish a nonmajor rule procedure for congressional review, and place a "sunset" on 20% of all existing rulemakings for four years. This amendment would help curb the rampant and expensive regulatory state that has dampened the American economy, particularly under Biden. In 2022, Heritage Foundation budget expert Matthew Dickerson estimated the cost at over $1 trillion to the economy.
NTU urges all Senators to vote "YES" on S.A. 1152, which would cut spending by five percent across the board except for defense, homeland, and veterans' affairs dollars.
Senator Blackburn's (R-TN) amendment would significantly reduce the federal budget at a time of unprecedented taxpayer debt. While NTU believes that defense spending should also be right-sized, this is an excellent step in the right direction.
NTU urges all Senators to vote "YES" on S.A. 1169, which would limit the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency to promulgate the harmful "tailpipe" rule, which would effectively lead to the ban of internal combustion engine cars.
Senator Marshall's (R-KS) amendment would prevent the harmful tailpipe rule from coming into effect. This rule would set the emissions standards for most vehicles on an pathway to a zero emission requirement, a de facto ban on gas vehicles. The EPA estimates that this rule would lead to two thirds of light-duty or passenger vehicles becoming electric-only by 2032. Coupled with the emissions standards for power plants, this will lead to unprecedented pressure on the grid that renewable energy will be hard pressed to fulfill, leading to massively increased energy prices for consumers dealing with increased inflation already.
Roll call votes on the above amendments will be significantly weighted in NTU’s annual Rating of Congress and a “YES” vote will be considered the pro-taxpayer position.
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If you have any questions, please contact NTU Executive Vice President Brandon Arnold at barnold@ntu.org.