Discouraging support for any legislation to change the interchange system in the new Congress was the focus for a series of meetings on Capitol Hill Wednesday. America’s Credit Unions Chief Advocacy Officer Carrie Hunt and Senior Vice President of Advocacy Greg Mesack participated in the meetings.

The two shared data showing the current system works well for consumers, small businesses, and card issuers and that attempts to artificially control prices would only harm these participants while benefiting the biggest retailers.

America’s Credit Unions strongly opposes reintroduction of the Big Bix Bailout Bill, which would create new credit card routing mandates. The bill did not move forward in the last Congress.

America’s Credit Unions is a member of the Electronic Payments Coalition (EPC), which highlighted new research this week showing that enacting the Big Box Interchange bill could cost the U.S. economy $227 billion in lost economic activity and approximately 156,000 lost jobs. This week’s meetings were coordinated with EPC partners.