When Americans head to the polls in just a few months for the midterm elections, the most pressing issue on their minds as they fill in their ballots will be affordability. Voters are looking for their voices to be heard as they work to navigate a daily struggle with higher prices on gas, groceries, and utilities. It is the Republican Party that has an opportunity to address those concerns and advance the president’s agenda by putting an end to the “swipe fee ripoff” as President Trump described it.
President Trump has fought relentlessly to lower costs for Americans, but there’s only so much he can do alone. From the president’s push to make housing more affordable to his support for swipe fee reform, the Republican Party stands at a critical juncture: It can either make life more affordable for voters or cede these solutions to Democrats.
We’ve already seen candidates capitalize on Republicans’ inaction and feature the president’s own endorsement of the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) in their campaign ads. Dan Osborn, an independent candidate eyeing the seat of GOP Sen. Pete Ricketts in Nebraska, has been busy on social media raising awareness on the swipe fee issue. He even released a video highlighting the president’s Truth Social post endorsing the CCCA and stressed the burden of credit card swipe fees and their impact on the average constituent. Osborn’s messaging speaks directly to the kitchen-table concerns that so many people across the country are personally experiencing, and doubles as pointing the finger for many affordability issues on “Wall Street.” What’s more, this is an idea straight out of President Trump’s playbook, and Republicans are simply watching it slip away and be adopted by their opposition.
Fortunately, all is not lost. The CCCA remains a bipartisan bill with overwhelming support from voters.
Small businesses are the backbone of local communities, and they will overwhelmingly support local candidates who are willing to help deal with swipe fees. Ask them. They’ll tell you how bad it is.
There is no question about which direction the political winds are blowing. If Republicans don’t speak to what voters care about most, they put their majorities in Congress at risk. People innately understand that credit card companies find every way they can to rip them off. The president picking up on this is a sign of his political brilliance. He knows this is an issue that Americans will support.
Frankly, the only reason for any member of Congress to hesitate to wholeheartedly embrace reforming credit card swipe fees is campaign cash. That concern misses two key things: First, there are a ton of Main Street businesses, and they have more campaign cash than you might think; and second, bankers’ money won’t help when millions of voters decide the other side cares about them and their finances – while holdouts care about campaign cash.
The Republican Congress failing to act on credit card swipe fees would be Democrats’ campaign dream. They can seize on it to argue that Republicans are out of touch with voters’ concerns – and use President Trump’s position to prove it. It would simply be a monumental political blunder for Republicans to fail to champion reforming credit card fees and passing the CCCA.
The CCCA is the GOP’s golden opportunity to prove they get it and are willing to fight for the livelihoods of hard-working Americans over the Wall Street giants’ lobbyists. And, they can do so by saying that it advances President Trump’s affordability agenda.
There are few things (if any) congressional Republicans could do to more effectively win over the voters they need to win than prove they will work for everyday Americans and Main Street over big credit card companies and Wall Street. They should move on it now, before it’s too late.
