Lawmakers are planning to bring to the floor of the Senate for a vote as early as this week a bill that will delay new rules that drastically cut debit card “swipe” fees, The Post has learned.
Backers of the bill, including Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), may offer the delay proposal as a possible attachment, or “rider,” to another existing bill to hasten its passage, sources say.
Known as the Debit Interchange Fee Study Act, the proposal could be presented and voted upon by the Senate within a week.
Senators backing the bill have been pressing to obtain a vote on the bill and have discussed tacking the “delay and study” amendment onto the Small Business Reauthorization Act that is currently being debated on the Senate floor.
Tester’s bill seeks a year-long study of so-called interchange fees, which are fees that banks charge to retailers.
In December, the Federal Reserve stunned banks and set off a lobbying firestorm by proposing to slash swipe fees from 63 cents to 12 cents.
Major financial institutions including MasterCard, Visa and JPMorgan Chase have railed against the new interchange fee rules since they emerged as a part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform act implemented last year.
These institutions argue that cutting the fee, which banks say goes to fund fraud protection, could cost them billions in revenues and force them to eliminate debit cards or limit debit-card purchases. Some banks have recently stopped debit-card rewards programs.
Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke distributed a letter to two lawmakers informing them that the Fed would not be able to meet an April 21 deadline for coming up with a final rule to cap debit interchange fees.