Senate Passes Housing Bill Without CCCA Amendment

An attempt to secure Senate passage for the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) by attaching it as an amendment to a bipartisan housing bill failed, the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) said in a Friday (March 13) newsletter shared in a post on social platform X.

CCCA amendment fails, pushback on state interchange bans, and more! https://t.co/jKcAlB668f

Written by industry experts, get insights on payments like nowhere else… Let’s dive in!#ETANewsletter #TTWeekly #ETAGR #ETAIA #ETAMembership #ETAEducation pic.twitter.com/bawX3D4cpK

— Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) (@ElecTranAssoc) March 13, 2026

The housing bill, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, was passed by the Senate Thursday (March 12) on an 89 to 10 vote, but the CCCA amendment was not included in the final legislation, according to ETA.

Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas filed the CCCA amendment (S.Amdt. 4305) during the Senate’s consideration of the bill, ETA said.

“ETA actively opposed the amendment, engaging lawmakers to stress that credit card routing mandates would undermine the security, innovation and consumer protections built into today’s payments system,” the association said in the newsletter. “ETA also reinforced that housing legislation should stay focused on housing affordability—not become a vehicle for unrelated payments policy changes.”

Marshall and Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois continue to push the CCCA, per the ETA.

The association added that it will remain engaged with policymakers as debate over the CCCA continues.

America’s Credit Unions highlighted Marshall’s addition of the CCCA to the housing bill in a March 4 press release. The association added that Marshall had previously attempted to attach language similar to the CCCA to digital assets legislation.

“While we support the Housing for the 21st Century Act, attaching the Credit Card Competition Act to a housing bill would do nothing to address the housing affordability challenges facing working families, nor would it change the underlying fact,” America’s Credit Unions said in the release. “And it would do nothing to protect the American consumer.”

The CCCA would enable card payments to be routed over at least one network that competes with Mastercard and Visa.

Proponents of the legislation contend that expanding the routing would have the ripple effect of driving down so-called swipe fees. Opponents argue that it would disrupt a system that is convenient, secure and essential to the economy, and jeopardize consumer protections, rewards programs and access to credit.

President Donald Trump endorsed the bill in January when Marshall and Durbin reintroduced it.