The Independent Restaurant Coalition is advocating for the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) to introduce competition into a payment processing market that currently offers independent restaurants no meaningful choice.
Credit card interchange fees, commonly known as swipe fees, represent a significant and rising cost for independent restaurants. These fees generally run between 2% and 4% of each transaction. For an industry operating on average profit margins between 3% and 7.5%, interchange on a given sale can exceed the profit that sale generates. Transactions on premium rewards cards, which carry the highest interchange rates, are frequently the least profitable for the restaurant.
The structure of the market prevents restaurants from managing this cost. Visa and Mastercard together account for approximately 80% of credit card transactions in the United States.he card-issuing bank, not the merchant, determines which network processes a given payment, giving merchants little control over which network processes a credit card payment A restaurant has no ability to select a lower-cost network because no alternative is made available to it. Large restaurant chains leverage their transaction volume to negotiate more favorable terms. Independent operators possess no comparable leverage.
The Credit Card Competition Act would introduce competition into this market. The legislation was reintroduced in January 2026 as S. 3623 and H.R. 7035, led by Senators Dick Durbin and Roger Marshall with bipartisan companion legislation in the House. The bill has also received support from President Trump, who has publicly characterized swipe fees as excessive.
The IRC supports the legislation for the following reasons:
- It requires a competitive routing option. The bill directs the Federal Reserve to require that credit cards issued by the largest financial institutions be enabled on at least two unaffiliated payment networks, at least one of which is neither Visa nor Mastercard. Merchants would be able to route transactions over the network offering better terms.
- It is narrowly targeted. The requirement applies only to the largest banks. Community banks and credit unions are exempt. The legislation sets no prices and imposes no fee caps. It establishes a competitive choice where none currently exists and allows market competition to determine pricing.
- It protects the routing choice it creates. The bill prohibits network rules that would restrict a merchant's ability to route transactions or penalize a merchant for doing so.
Interchange is among the few major restaurant costs not subject to competition. Reduced processing costs directly affect a restaurant's capacity to schedule staff, maintain equipment, and hold menu prices. Independent restaurants are among the businesses least able to absorb these costs and least able to negotiate them, which is why the IRC has made this legislation a priority. The Act does not ask Congress to set prices. It asks Congress to introduce greater competition into a market dominated by two networks.
Congress has attempted to move the CCCA multiple times over the last two years. Supporters of CCCA are committed and aggressive.Continued outreach on this issue will certainly help them see the value in continuing that fight.