President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have put their weight behind the Credit Card Competition Act, a bipartisan Senate bill that would force many Visa and Mastercard credit purchases to run over at least one competing network — a change large retailers have sought for years and that card issuers warn could drain the interchange revenue that pays for cash-back and travel rewards.
The legislation, originally introduced by Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., would require banks that issue cards on the two largest U.S. networks to enable a second, unaffiliated network on every covered credit card. When you tap or swipe, the merchant — not the bank — could choose which network processes the transaction, similar to routing rules Congress imposed on debit cards more than a decade ago.
What changed this week
The bill sat largely dormant after its 2022 introduction until affordability politics returned to the foreground. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Trump, Vance and several top administration allies are now campaigning for the measure as part of a broader push on household costs, giving merchants a powerful advocate in the White House.
Vance cosponsored the Senate version while he still served in Congress. Trump's endorsement does not pass the bill — it still needs committee action and floor votes — but it raises the odds that network routing becomes a live fight in the lame-duck session rather than a talking point buried in a banking hearing.
Who wins and who pays
Retail trade groups argue that forcing network competition would shave the swipe fees that show up in shelf prices. The National Retail Federation and the Merchant Payments Coalition have backed Durbin-Marshall for years, saying duopoly routing lets Visa and Mastercard set terms merchants cannot negotiate away.
Banks and the card networks tell a different story. Interchange — the per-transaction cut that flows to the cardholder's bank — funds sign-up bonuses, statement credits and fraud protections. JPMorgan Chase, Capital One and other large issuers have warned that a second-network mandate would push them to trim rewards or add annual fees, especially on no-fee cash-back cards where interchange is the only profit center.
Visa and Mastercard shares wobbled in after-hours trading Thursday as the Journal story circulated, though both networks have survived prior Durbin-led attacks. The companies emphasize that their brands also guarantee settlement speed and chargeback rules merchants rely on during disputes.
What cardholders should watch
Nothing in the bill changes your contract overnight. If Congress passes routing rules, the Federal Reserve would still write implementation details, including which cards qualify and how quickly issuers must enable alternate networks. Debit routing under the 2010 Durbin amendment took years to litigate; credit routing would almost certainly face the same court challenges from network companies.
In the meantime, the White House's embrace links the bill to two other affordability ideas Trump has floated — including a separate push to cap credit-card interest rates — that banks oppose for different reasons. Network choice attacks merchant costs; an interest cap would hit revolving balances directly.
For households, the practical question is whether any savings at the register would outpace rewards cuts on the cards they already carry. If you fund travel with Chase Ultimate Rewards or Amex Membership Rewards, watch congressional calendars this fall: the same bill that might trim grocery prices could also reset the math on your favorite transfer partners.