Senators Moreno and Lummis endorse Credit Card Competition Act, taking aim at Visa and Mastercard dominance

Two senators best known for championing crypto legislation have turned their attention to a different kind of financial disruption. Senators Bernie Moreno (R-OH) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) cosponsored the Credit Card Competition Act (S. 3623) in early August, joining Senator Angus King (I-ME) in backing a bill that would chip away at the near-duopoly Visa and Mastercard hold over credit card processing. The bill’s core requirement is straightforward: banks with more than $100B in assets would have to enable at least two unaffiliated payment networks on their credit cards. Right now, most credit cards route transactions through either Visa or Mastercard, giving those two companies enormous pricing power. The legislation wants to create a world where merchants can route payments through competing networks, theoretically driving down the fees they pay on every swipe. A bipartisan coalition with unusual bedfellows The Credit Card Competition Act was reintroduced in January 2026, and it has assembled a bipartisan coalition. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Roger Marshall (R-KS), and Peter Welch (D-VT) were already on board before Moreno, Lummis, and King signed on. Former President Trump pub...