Payments Choice Act wins secondary vote

The Payment Choice Act (PCA) will live to fight another day, after Congress voted on July 14, 2022, to add PCA to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). PCA supporters noted the bill, if passed, will require all brick-and-mortar businesses to allow consumers to pay cash for goods and services priced up to $2,000.

As previously reported, PCA was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on June 16, 2022, in a 224 to 198 vote before it moved to the Senate, where it continued to gain broad bipartisan support after vigorous lobbying efforts by the Consumer Choice in Payment Coalition, legal analysts and the National ATM Council Inc.

Bruce Renard, executive director of NAC, thanked Maxine Waters, D-Calif., chair of the House Financial Services Committee; HR-4395 co-sponsors Reps. Donald Payne Jr., D-N.J., Chris Smith, R-N.J., and Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas; and other House members for supporting the measure.

"Inclusion of the PCA in the NDAA by the House is a hugely significant step forward in the chances for final enactment of the PCA into law," Renard said in a statement. "The NDAA is "must-pass" legislation and as long we are able to keep the PCA intact as part of the NDAA, we will achieve our goal of making CASH acceptance at brick and mortar retailers the law of the land throughout the USA!"

NDAA's broad agenda

Renard pointed out that 650 out of 1,200 amendments were voted into NDAA and that congressional action will now shift to the Senate, where the Joint House-Senate Conference Committee will ultimately decide PCA's fate, either as a standalone bill known as S.4497 or as part of the broader NDAA, he explained.

"You will recall that this bill (S.4497) is the standalone Payment Choice Act, a companion bill recently introduced in the Senate by Senators Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Kevin Cramer, R-N.D. Building bipartisan support of this bill will provide further support for maintaining the same provision as part of the NDAA," Renard said, entreating cash supporters to ask their senators to become cosponsors of the bill.

"NAC thanks and applauds our governmental affairs team, board of directors and board officers and Consumer Choice in Payment Coalition, for their years of effort and unwavering commitment to preserving consumer choice," Renard said.

In a June 13, 2022, letter to Congress, the Consumer Choice in Payment Coalition affirmed that cash is crucial to underbanked and unbanked Americans. "Cashless enterprises lock out millions of unbanked Americans, of all ages, and expose all consumers to loss of their data privacy and their ability to maintain the confidentiality of their purchasing and spending decisions," CCPC representatives wrote. "Citizens who value the anonymity of paying with cash, and who do not want to be burdened by the high "merchant fees" imposed on credit card transactions or the high interest rates on credit card balances, should have the option to pay with cash."

Additional information about the cash coalition is available at cash-choice.org/.

Whether you want to upgrade your POS offerings, find a payment gateway partner, bone up on fintech regs or PCI requirements, find an upcoming trade show, read about faster payments, or discover the latest innovations in merchant acquiring, The Green Sheet is the resource for you. Since 1983, we've helped empower and connect payments professionals, starting with the merchant level salespeople who bring tailored payment acceptance and digital commerce tools, along with a host of other business services to merchants across the globe. The Green Sheet Inc. is also a proud affiliate of Bankcard Life, a premier community that provides industry-leading training and resources for payment professionals.

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