Sens. Bernie Sanders & Josh Hawley Join Forces Across Party Lines For Bill To Cap Credit Card Interest Rates

Republicans and Democrats have united their efforts to promote economic relief to Americans, especially those struggling with credit card debt.

Two unlikely partners, Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), have united to sponsor a bill to call for relief for working families from heavy credit card debt.

“When large financial institutions charge over 25 percent interest on credit cards, they are not engaged in the business of making credit available,” Sanders said in a press release. “They are engaged in extortion and loan sharking. We cannot continue to allow big banks to make huge profits ripping off the American people.”

Hawley said in a separate press release: “Working Americans are drowning in record credit debt while the biggest credit card issuers get richer and richer by hiking their interest rates to the moon.”

Sanders has been in the news recently on his successful Fight The Oligarchy Tour with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), drawing large crowds nationwide.

Banks have long profited from charging high credit card interest rates. Americans have $1.17 trillion in credit card debt.

Many families charge basic fees to their credit cards, increasing their debt and making credit card companies richer with higher interest rates.

In 2022, companies made $130 billion in interest and fees and charged the average consumer 28.6% on credit cards.

In his campaign, President Donald Trump promised to cap interest rates at 10% to help Americans make ends meet.

In the last five years, Visa, MasterCard and American Express made over $145 billion and paid their CEOs nearly $375 million.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) and Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) have teamed up in recent years on the Credit Card Competition Act proposal to introduce different cards into the industry, but their bill failed to pass.

The American Bankers Association issued a statement opposing the Sanders and Hawley proposal. “As history makes clear, this proposal would result in the loss of credit access for the very consumers who need it the most, forcing them to use less regulated, more risky alternatives, including payday lenders and loan sharks,” it read. “Congress has rejected these kinds of government price controls in the past, and we urge lawmakers to reject this misguided proposal.”