S. 1838Senate118th Congress (2023-2025)In Committee

Credit Card Competition Act of 2023

AI-Generated Summary

Updated January 20, 2026 at 8:30 AM UTC

The Credit Card Competition Act of 2023 amends the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to require the Federal Reserve Board to issue rules that promote competition among credit‑card payment networks. It bars large card issuers from forcing transactions through a single network and stops routing restrictions that limit merchants’ choice of networks, while also creating a public list of networks that pose national‑security risks. The rules apply to issuers with assets over $100 billion and do not cover cards issued in a three‑party payment‑system model.

Key Provisions

Prohibits covered card issuers or payment networks from restricting electronic credit transactions to only one network, unless the networks are affiliated or on a designated list, and requires that at least two networks (or the two largest by market share) be available for processing.
Bars issuers and networks from imposing routing restrictions that prevent merchants from sending transactions to any eligible network not on the national‑security risk list, and forbids exclusive security technologies that only one network can use.
Mandates the Federal Reserve Board, in consultation with the Treasury, to publish and update a public list of payment‑card networks that pose a national‑security risk or are owned by a foreign state entity, with updates at least every two years.
Defines a “covered card issuer” as one with assets exceeding $100 billion and excludes credit cards issued in a three‑party payment‑system model from the new regulations.
Sets timelines: the Board must issue the competition regulations within one year of enactment, they become effective 180 days after final issuance, and the Board must review network designations at least every three years.

Legislative Activity

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1 earlier action

SenateIntro Referral Latest Action

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. (text: CR S2007-2008)

Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee

June 7, 2023

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SenateIntro Referral

Introduced in Senate

June 7, 2023

SenateIntro Referral

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. (text: CR S2007-2008)

Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee

June 7, 2023

Floor Debate

2 members

What members said about S. 1838 on the floor

1 Republican1 Democrat

Sen. Susan M. CollinsR-ME · Jun 7, 2023

Madam President, I rise today to introduce the Special Diabetes Program Reauthorization Act of 2023 with Senator Jeanne Shaheen, my colleague from New Hampshire and cochair of the Senate Diabetes…

Madam President, I rise today to introduce the Special Diabetes Program Reauthorization Act of 2023 with Senator Jeanne Shaheen, my colleague from New Hampshire and cochair of the Senate Diabetes Caucus. Our bipartisan bill would reauthorize and strengthen vital type 1 diabetes research happening at the National Institutes of Health and renew critical treatment, education, and prevention programs for at-risk populations, specifically Native American and Alaska Native communities, who experience type 2 diabetes at nearly three times the national average. Together, these programs have become the Nation's most strategic and effective effort to combat diabetes and its complications, but, without an extension, both programs are at risk of expiring on September 30, 2023.

For more than 25 years, the Special Diabetes Program--comprised of the Special Statutory Funding Program for Type 1 Diabetes Research and the Special Diabetes Program for Indians, SDPI--has delivered meaningful resources and research breakthroughs for those with type 1 diabetes and also for Native Americans and Alaska Natives. This research has also led to advancements to the broader community, including the 37 million Americans with diabetes and 96 million with prediabetes. Our bill would continue these investments in the research aimed at developing a cure for diabetes and support the programs that help prevent and treat the disease and its complications.

In one of my very first meetings as a new Senator, I met a young Mainer with type 1 diabetes. I will never forget this 10-year-old boy looking up at me and telling me that he wished he could take just 1 day off from having diabetes--his birthday or Christmas--but of course he could not. This meeting led me to start the bipartisan Senate Diabetes Caucus and to begin fighting for a cure for this devastating disease.

Since then, we have made tremendous progress thanks to investments like the Special Diabetes Program. From new technologies that are making these children's lives easier to manage to treatments that can potentially delay the clinical diagnosis of type 1 diabetes, this program has generated a strong return on investment. Renewal of the SDP is absolutely critical to accelerating the progress we have made over the past two decades to treat and one day cure type 1 diabetes. Today's research represents tomorrow's cure.

As the cochairs of the Senate Diabetes Caucus, Senator Shaheen and I recently led a letter signed by 60 Senators advocating for the program's reauthorization and outlining why investing in the Special Diabetes Program is a cost-effective investment toward improving lives and reducing healthcare expenditures. The driving force behind this program is curing one of the United States' most costly diseases in both human and economic terms.

Our bill would reauthorize both components of the SDP through December 2025 at an annual funding level of $170 million per program. Congress has reauthorized the SDP with bipartisan support numerous times since the program's inception in 1997. Yet funding has not increased since fiscal year 2004. During this time period, the cost of research has increased, as has the size of the Indian Health Service population and the cost of medical care. For that

reason, our bill also proposes a $20 million increase per program. This would be the first increase for this program in 20 years.

The two programs in this reauthorization bill have had transformative effects on diabetes care. The first program is the Special Statutory Funding Program for Type 1 Diabetes Research, which provides funds to NIH's National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, NIDDK, for life-changing preventive diabetes research. For example, SDP-funded research laid early groundwork for artificial pancreas, AP, systems--or closed-loop ``all-in-one'' diabetes management systems-- that have shown great promise in improving glucose monitoring and insulin delivery. Advances in technology have helped reduce costly and burdensome complications and improved the quality of life for those with the disease. There are now multiple FDA-approved artificial pancreas systems, enabling individuals with type 1 diabetes and their doctors to choose the system that works best for them. According to one study, the use of AP systems in adults could save Medicare roughly $1 billion over 25 years.

SDP research has also helped researchers identify genes and environmental factors linked with type 1 diabetes, led to changes in clinical practice guidelines for diabetic eye care, and supported clinical trials on therapeutics to prevent and treat the disease. For example, landmark research conducted by SDP-funded TrialNet demonstrated for the first time ever that early preventive treatment with a drug targeting the immune system delayed onset of clinical-type 1 diabetes for 2 years. This drug has since been approved by the FDA and is the first ever disease modifying therapy for type 1 diabetes.

Continued investment in this program is essential to continue large- scale trials, plan next steps for research programs, conduct outreach and education, and allocate research resources effectively. As Dr. Griffin Rodgers, Director of the NIDDK, said when testifying at a Senate Aging Committee hearing I chaired in 2019, ``with continued research, it is possible to imagine that people could lead a life free of the burden of Type 1 diabetes and its complications.''

Our bill would also provide $170 million per year to sustain a second program, the Special Diabetes Program for Indians, SDPI. SDPI supports type 2 diabetes treatment and prevention strategies for Native American and Alaska Native populations who are disproportionately burdened with type 2 diabetes at a rate of nearly three times the national average. In Maine this program benefits five Tribal communities across the state, providing approximately 5 million dollars in support for diabetes prevention activities in those Tribal populations. This Federal support is critical to reducing disparities. As Chief William Nicholas of the Passamaquoddy Tribe in Maine recently explained, ``Special Diabetes Program funding is instrumental and necessary to educate and address high rates of diabetes in Indian Country. Native Americans are high risk for diabetes, and the funding will continue the much-needed support, education, and treatment in our communities.''

Tremendous improvements are occurring in diabetes outcomes for Alaska Natives and Native Americans, and the SDPI has played a key role, just as Congress envisioned when the program was created. Although diabetes rates among the IHS service population remain high, with the help of this program, diabetes rates in youth in these communities have not increased in more than 10 years, and diabetes rates in Alaska Native and Native American adults have not increased since 2011. Communities with SDPI-funded programs have actually seen the diabetes incidence rate decrease consistently since 2013.

The program is effective by other measures as well. Since SDPI began, there has been a 50-percent reduction in diabetic eye disease rates among Alaska Natives and Native Americans; hospitalizations for uncontrolled diabetes among Alaska Native and Native American adults have dropped by 84 percent; and the rate of end-stage renal disease has fallen by more than 50 percent. These positive clinical outcomes have reduced the risk for blindness, amputations, and kidney failure, in addition to preventing the onset of type 2 diabetes.

The Special Diabetes Program is funding research that is leading directly to the development of new insights and therapies that are improving the lives of those with diabetes and accelerating progress toward curing and preventing the disease. Ruby Anderson, a young Mainer with type I diabetes who testified before the 2019 JDRF Children's Congress, put an even finer point on the need to reauthorize the SDP. Ruby she said she doesn't want her brother or sister to have to go through what she has experienced. As she told Senators, ``We need more research to find a cure. We need even better devices. And we need to figure out what causes TID so we can stop it.''

I couldn't agree more with Ruby, and I am confident the Special Diabetes Program will make these objectives possible. I urge my colleagues to support a multi-year extension of this important program so that one day we will find a cure to this debilitating disease.

Sen. Richard J. DurbinD-IL · Jun 7, 2023

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Sen. Richard J. DurbinD-IL · Jun 7, 2023

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Bill Text

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Introduced in SenateIssued June 7, 2023

118th CONGRESS

1st Session

S. 1838

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

June 7, 2023

Mr. Durbin (for himself, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Welch, and Mr. Vance) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

A BILL

To amend the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to require the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve system to prescribe regulations relating to network competition in credit card transactions, and for other purposes.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Credit Card Competition Act of 2023.

Competition in credit card transactions

(a)

In general

Section 921 of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (15 U.S.C. 1693o–2) is amended—

(1)

in subsection (b)—

(A)

by redesignating paragraphs (2), (3), and (4) as paragraphs (3), (4), and (5), respectively; and

(B)

by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:

(2)

Competition in credit card transactions

(A)

No exclusive network

(i)

In general

Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Credit Card Competition Act of 2023, the Board shall prescribe regulations providing that a covered card issuer or payment card network shall not directly or through any agent, processor, or licensed member of a payment card network, by contract, requirement, condition, penalty, technological specification, or otherwise, restrict the number of payment card networks on which an electronic credit transaction may be processed to—

(I)

1 such network;

(II)

2 or more such networks, if—

(aa)

each such network is owned, controlled, or otherwise operated by—

(AA)

affiliated persons; or

(BB)

networks affiliated with such issuer; or

(bb)

any such network is identified on the list established and updated under subparagraph (D); or

(III)

subject to clause (ii), the 2 such networks that hold the 2 largest market shares with respect to the number of credit cards issued in the United States by licensed members of such networks (and enabled to be processed through such networks), as determined by the Board on the date on which the Board prescribes the regulations.

(ii)

Determinations by Board

(I)

In general

The Board, not later than 3 years after the date on which the regulations prescribed under clause (i) take effect, and not less frequently than once every 3 years thereafter, shall determine whether the 2 networks identified under clause (i)(III) have changed, as compared with the most recent such determination by the Board.

(II)

Effect of determination

If the Board, under subclause (I), determines that the 2 networks described in clause (i)(III) have changed (as compared with the most recent such determination by the Board), clause (i)(III) shall no longer have any force or effect.

(B)

No routing restrictions

(i)

directly or through any agent, processor, or licensed member of the network, by contract, requirement, condition, penalty, or otherwise—

(I)

inhibit the ability of any person who accepts credit cards for payments to direct the routing of electronic credit transactions for processing over any payment card network that—

(aa)

may process such transactions; and

(bb)

is not on the list established and updated by the Board under subparagraph (D);

(II)

require any person who accepts credit cards for payments to exclusively use, for transactions associated with a particular credit card, an authentication, tokenization, or other security technology that cannot be used by all of the payment card networks that may process electronic credit transactions for that particular credit card; or

(III)

inhibit the ability of another payment card network to handle or process electronic credit transactions using an authentication, tokenization, or other security technology for the processing of those electronic credit transactions; or

(ii)

impose any penalty or disadvantage, financial or otherwise, on any person for—

(I)

choosing to direct the routing of an electronic credit transaction over any payment card network on which the electronic credit transaction may be processed; or

(II)

failing to ensure that a certain number, or aggregate dollar amount, of electronic credit transactions are handled by a particular payment card network.

(C)

Applicability

The regulations prescribed under subparagraphs (A) and (B) shall not apply to a credit card issued in a 3-party payment system model.

(D)

Designation of national security risks

(i)

In general

Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Credit Card Competition Act of 2023, the Board, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, shall prescribe regulations to establish a public list of any payment card network—

(I)

the processing of electronic credit transactions by which is determined by the Board to pose a risk to the national security of the United States; or

(II)

that is owned, operated, or sponsored by a foreign state entity.

(ii)

Updating of list

Not less frequently than once every 2 years after the date on which the Board establishes the public list required under clause (i), the Board, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, shall update that list.

(E)

Definitions

In this paragraph—

(i)

the terms card issuer and creditor have the meanings given the terms in section 103 of the Truth in Lending Act (15 U.S.C. 1602);

(ii)

the term covered card issuer means a card issuer that, together with the affiliates of the card issuer, has assets of more than $100,000,000,000;

(iii)

the term credit card issued in a 3-party payment system model means a credit card issued by a card issuer that is—

(I)

the payment card network with respect to the credit card; or

(II)

under common ownership with the payment card network with respect to the credit card;

(iv)

the term electronic credit transaction—

(I)

means a transaction in which a person uses a credit card; and

(II)

includes a transaction in which a person does not physically present a credit card for payment, including a transaction involving the entry of credit card information onto, or use of credit card information in conjunction with, a website interface or a mobile telephone application; and

(v)

the term licensed member includes, with respect to a payment card network—

(I)

a creditor or card issuer that is authorized to issue credit cards bearing any logo of the payment card network; and

(II)

any person, including any financial institution and any person that may be referred to as an acquirer, that is authorized to—

(aa)

screen and accept any person into any program under which that person may accept, for payment for goods or services, a credit card bearing any logo of the payment card network;

(bb)

process transactions on behalf of any person who accepts credit cards for payments; and

(cc)

complete financial settlement of any transaction on behalf of a person who accepts credit cards for payments.

; and

(2)

in subsection (d)(1), by inserting , except that the Bureau shall not have authority to enforce the requirements of this section or any regulations prescribed by the Board under this section after section 918.

(b)

Effective date

Each set of regulations prescribed by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System under paragraph (2) of section 921(b) of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (15 U.S.C. 1693o–2(b)), as amended by subsection (a) of this section, shall take effect on the date that is 180 days after the date on which the Board prescribes the final version of that set of regulations.