Sponsors (7)
The bill increases merchant choice and competition in card‑routing—potentially lowering processing costs and encouraging innovation—but risks shifting costs onto issuers, networks, or cardholders and may restrict use of networks labeled as national‑security risks.
Small-business owners and middle‑class families can route credit transactions to competing networks, allowing merchants to avoid single‑network routing and potentially lowering processing fees and consumer costs.
Financial institutions and payment‑technology workers will face increased competition among networks, which can spur innovation in payment services and alternative authentication and routing options.
Middle‑class families and cardholders may see higher out‑of‑pocket costs or reduced card rewards if payment networks raise other fees or cut incentives to offset lost interchange revenue.
Small‑business owners and cardholders who rely on certain networks could lose access or face stigma if a public list labels networks as national‑security risks, constraining choices and complicating acceptance.
Large covered issuers (those with assets > $100B) will incur compliance and systems‑update costs to implement multi‑network routing and related changes.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires the Federal Reserve to ban most credit-card network exclusivity, create a public national-security risk list for card networks, and set timelines for rulemaking and reviews.
Introduced January 13, 2026 by Lance Gooden · Last progress January 13, 2026
Requires the Federal Reserve to write rules that stop most credit-card issuers and networks from forcing merchants and cardholders to use a single, exclusive payment network for a covered credit card. The Fed must also publish and regularly update a public list of payment card networks that pose national security risks or are owned/operated/sponsored by foreign states, and the rules include an explicit exception for three‑party payment system cards. The Fed has one year to issue the regulations and the rules would take effect 180 days after the Fed issues its final rule; the law also requires periodic reviews of market-share leadership and scheduled updates to the national‑security risk list.