Voice of CUs Heard on Capitol Hill; Senate Passes NDAA Without Interchange

The U.S. Senate passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2024 Thursday night without the interchange amendment the credit union industry fought to exclude. 

“We thank Virginia’s credit unions for their grassroots and grasstops efforts to fight interchange legislation. From email campaigns to meetings with lawmakers, we fought hard to keep interchange from being attached to the NDAA in both the House and Senate,” said League Chief Advocacy Officer JT Blau. “This win in the Senate is particularly important, but we recognize we may well be fighting this fight for another year and a half. Big box retailers and merchant trade groups will continue to push this issue, which means we’ll need to remain especially vigilant in the weeks ahead.” 

Prominent news outlets have reported that the Senate proponents of the interchange measure have been assured that a vote on the measure will happen this session, perhaps as early as September. Industry watchers are particularly concerned that the measure could be attached to another of the must-pass pieces of legislation still before the Senate, including the government’s major spending package.