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In the end, reaching 60 votes to delay the implementation of the Durbin Amendment debit card interchange rules that had passed overwhelmingly in 2010 was always a stretch. In this political climate, getting a majority of Senators to agree on much of anything is a daunting task.
It is somewhat heartening to know that 54 members of the “world’s greatest deliberative body” saw fit to fix one of the biggest debacles created by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act. I can readily understand Democratic opposition to the Tester Amendment that sought to delay the rules. They are often seduced by a populist “help the little guy” argument no matter how disingenuous; though 17 of them didn’t fall for it this time and they are to be commended.
It is harder to understand the motivation of the 12 Republicans that voted with Durbin on this issue. One positive here is that this number is down from the 17 Republicans who initially voted to intervene in this marketplace last July. I suppose I can understand the votes from Senators in a state where a retail giant like Home Depot is headquartered. After all they are among the biggest winners in this fight. Contrary to Senator Durbin’s plaintive pleas for the “mom and pop” shops, it is the big box retailers who will enjoy the largesse of this Congressional giveaway, or should I say takeaway. In fact, it was the CFO of Home Depot who in a recent call with shareholders said that Durbin implementation will mean $35M to their bottom line annually. But wait, I thought that any savings was to be passed on to consumers. Is it savings after the $35M?
Freshman Senator John Boozman (R, AK) was a profile in political courage by resisting pressure from a rather large retailer headquartered in Bentonville, AK and voting for the Tester Amendment. After the vote he said that he couldn’t vote for something that allowed government pricing.
Republicans purport to be the party of free markets and less government. In this case, Senator Barbara Mikulski (D, MD), not usually known as a big free market advocate and 17 of her Democratic colleagues were just that. And Senator Lindsey Graham (R, SC) and 11 of his Republican colleagues were not. At least I know who to thank when my free checking account goes away.
Republicans can point to a number of achievements. Unfortunately their latest achievement is defeating the Tester Amendment.
