League Monitoring Senate Debate on NDAA for Possible Inclusion of Fiercely Opposed Interchange Bill

The U.S. Senate this week is debating its version of the National Defense Authorization Act and your League is closely monitoring any moves to attach the fiercely opposed interchange bill to the must-pass NDAA. 

Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Roger Marshall, R-Kan., and Peter Welch, D-Vt. are expected to introduce interchange as an amendment to the Senate version. Your League has again reached out to Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, asking that they oppose any effort to add interchange language to the NDAA. In a letter today to Sens. Warner and Kaine, we urged them to oppose any effort to include interchange language in the NDAA or to include another amendment calling for the study of interchange fees paid at military commissaries and exchanges.

"Your League continues to work closely with our system partners to oppose any move to advance credit card interchange legislation, whether through the NDAA or otherwise," said Virginia Credit Union League President/CEO Carrie Hunt. "Given the interchange bill's harmful impacts on credit unions, consumers, and businesses, it's critical that credit union advocates remain engaged on this issue."

Interchange is absent from the House version of the NDAA, which lawmakers narrowly approved last Friday. The House version is widely considered dead on arrival in the Senate, so expect to see a good deal of political wrangling as the Republican-led House and Democrat-controlled Senate work to reconcile the two bills.

CUNA joined financial services organizations Friday in strong opposition to attaching the bill to the NDAA with a letter sent to House and Senate leaders, as well as chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees.