A fierce internal House GOP dispute over debit-card swipe fees is threatening to delay a sweeping Republican bill to scale back banking regulations enacted after the 2008 financial crisis, Politico reported today. The behind-the-scenes tug of war is pitting House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), author of the “Financial CHOICE Act,” against some of his own committee members — all while an army of lobbyists is working to try to kill or save the legislation. The fight centers on a single sentence in the nearly 600-page text that would give banks greater freedom to hike debit card fees for retailers. Those fees were capped as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, which strengthened banking rules after the 2008 crisis. During a closed-door Republican Conference meeting on Tuesday, Hensarling made a last-minute pitch to his colleagues to get in line behind the legislation, calling the debate the “elephant in the room.” But Republican opponents of the provision, led by Reps. David Young of Iowa and Dennis Ross of Florida, have started their own counter-whip to strip it from the text.
