Washington, D.C. (Feb. 17, 2026) – In a new op-ed in RealClearPolitics, Adam Temple, NFIB Senior Vice President for Advocacy writes about the crisis American small businesses are facing due to credit card swipe fees. Temple urges lawmakers to support Main Street by passing the bipartisan Credit Card Competition Act. 

Temple writes: 

“The president announced his support for the Credit Card Competition Act. At its core, this bipartisan bill would give small businesses the right to choose between multiple credit card processing networks. That’s a huge difference from the status quo, because right now, Main Street is stuck with networks that charge huge swipe fees. This leaves small businesses with a real dilemma: Stop accepting credit cards or pass the costs on to consumers. That’s an impossible choice in today’s economy.  

“This crisis can be laid at the feet of Visa, Mastercard, and the big banks that create the unfair and uncompetitive payment systems. The two powerful credit card companies and their banking partners decide what swipe fees every small business in America pays. They charge 2%-4% on each transaction, which adds up quickly. In 2024, the swipe fees totaled a record $187.2 billion, and they were most merchants’ highest operating cost after labor. And as credit card companies have raised their swipe fees in recent years, many small business margins have come to the breaking point.” 

[…] 

“As long as this anti-competitive, rate-setting regime remains in place, small businesses and their communities will suffer. That’s why Main Street is counting on Congress to pass the Credit Card Competition Act. 

“Authored by Sens. Marshall and Durbin and Reps. Gooden and Lofgren, the bill would end the current broken system by requiring banks to let small businesses choose more than one credit card network. Instead of being forced to go with only Visa and Mastercard, small businesses could simultaneously use well-established, secure, and independent networks like Star, NYCE, Pulse, and Shazam.” 

Read the full op-ed here.