Yesterday, with rally signs waving, more than 50 small business owners from across the country with Reform Swipe Fees NOW! gathered on Capital Hill to show their appreciation after the Tester-Corker Amendment failed to pass on Wednesday.

The jovial business owners celebrated the defeat of a delay to the Durbin Amendment included in the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform package. Senator Dick Durbin, Democrat from Illinois, added the amendment to the Dodd-Frank bill creating regulations for large credit card companies so they could not charge excessively or continually increase debit card swipe fees, which were hurting both small businesses and consumers.

In response to aggressive lobbying by Wall Street banks and credit card companies, Democratic Senator Jon Tester from Montana created an amendment to delay the implementation of the reforms expected to take effect in July 2011. The Tester-Corker Amendment was defeated 54-45 in the Senate by a bipartisan effort to relieve small businesses and consumers of harmful fees.

However, the Durbin Amendment was added to the Dodd-Frank reform bill before any hearing, study, or review of its potential consequences could be conducted, causing concern for both officials including Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and FDIC Chariman Sheila Bair

Trish Wexler, spokesperson for the Electronic Payments Coalition, argued that banking regulators warned that the legislation could harm community banks and credit unions, and the Senate is choosing to ignore these warnings.

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