Dive Brief:

• The U.S. Tourism Economy Alliance, a new consortium of travel companies and organizations that appears to have been formed this year, criticized legislation in a press release last week that it argued would curtail credit card companies’ reward programs.
• In attacking the Credit Card Competition Act proposal, the trade group suggested the bill could harm consumers who rely on rewards to travel, per the release. The alliance is connected with the Electronic Payments Coalition, which represents banks and credit card companies and has long opposed the legislation.
• A spokesperson for Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat who has advocated for passage of the Credit Card Competition Act, didn’t immediately respond to an email requesting for comment.

Dive Insight:

Earlier this year, Sens. Roger Marshall (R-KS) and Durbin (D-IL) resurrected their Credit Card Competition Act bill, which would require card issuers with $100 billion or more in assets to offer an alternative network beyond the card networks Visa and Mastercard. The senators argue that Visa and Mastercard control too much of the market. 

Shortly thereafter, the Electronic Payments Coalition issued a statement blasting the legislation as a “big government takeover of the credit card system.” The alliance’s website says it’s a “project” of the EPC and the Wednesday press release appears to have been its first.

President Donald Trump has expressed support for the Marshall-Durbin bill on his social media site, Truth Social, but the legislation hasn’t progressed in the Senate or the House since it was reintroduced in January. 

Last month, sponsors of the bill failed in a bid to push the legislation through by attaching it to a major housing bill, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. Supporters of the legislation include the Merchants Payments Coalition, with backing from the National Retail Federation and the National Restaurant Association.

The U.S. Tourism Economy Alliance’s members include a potpourri of small organizations, including chambers of commerce, airports and philanthropic foundations, according to the group’s website. The Altoona Area Chamber of Commerce, the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, the Northern Plains Heritage Foundation and the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library are among its members.

“Countless local communities are built on travel and tourism,” Electronic Payments Coalition Executive Chairman Richard Hunt said in the release. “Simply put, policies undermining these programs threaten economic growth, reduce consumer benefits, and jeopardize the very communities dependent on a strong and vibrant travel sector.”

The alliance contended in its release that consumers who earn credit card rewards book 15 million domestic flights every year with their accumulated rewards, generating billions of dollars in additional spending.

Durbin has also shown his interest in improving airline loyalty programs. This year, he reintroduced the “Protect Your Points Act” in March, which would require airlines to warn cardholders one year in advance of any devaluation of their currency or changes to rewards programs’ terms of service.