Republicans Pan Trump’s Idea To Cap Credit Card Interest Rate | EUROtoday

WASHINGTON — Republicans on Capitol Hill don’t like President Donald Trump’s proposal to cap bank card rates of interest at 10%, capturing down the most recent try by the president to lean into populist financial coverage forward of the 2026 midterm elections.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), sometimes an unquestioning defender of each Trump proposal, on Tuesday mentioned Trump was simply “thinking out loud” with the thought.

“You’ve got to be very careful if you go forward,” mentioned Johnson. “If you do that, then the credit card companies, the negative secondary effect is that they would just stop lending money and maybe they cap what people are able to borrow at a very low amount.”

Trump first pitched price caps in a Truth Social submit final week saying folks had been getting “ripped off” by bank card rates of interest as excessive as 20 or 30%. He pushed the thought once more on Monday, suggesting he may unilaterally impose a cap beginning this month, although it could require an act of Congress — and that appears unlikely given Republicans’ reliance each on monetary trade donations and conventional pro-bank leanings.

“I believe in free market competition, capitalism,” Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas), a member of the House Financial Services Committee, advised HuffPost. “I don’t believe in caps.”

Trump referred to as progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a frequent goal of his invective, on Monday to debate capping bank card rates of interest. Warren has lengthy advocated for laws doing so, even earlier than Trump proposed it throughout the 2024 presidential marketing campaign. The name got here shortly after Warren delivered a speech on the National Press Club in D.C. urging her occasion to undertake a bolder and extra populist message forward of the 2026 midterm election.

Warren advised HuffPost the president was “perfectly pleasant” on the decision, however she appeared skeptical of his intention to comply with by on the matter.

“An entire year went by, and he never once did anything to put caps in place to lower interest rates,” Warren mentioned Tuesday. “If he really wants to make that change, then now is the time.”

Sens. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) reintroduced their invoice that may crack down on bank card “swipe fees” Tuesday. Trump additionally endorsed the measure, calling the charges a “rip-off.” The invoice is the most recent in decadeslong tug-of-war between retailers and Wall Street over the interchange charges retailers pay banks when prospects pay with bank cards.

“Thank you, President Trump, for your support!” Marshall responded in a social media submit. “Big Banks rake in billions from credit card swipe fees — while hardworking Americans pay the price. Let’s end these fees and save families thousands.”

Swipe charges aren’t the identical factor as bank card rates of interest, nevertheless, which the Federal Reserve has estimated had been averaging above 20% lately — a pointy enhance from earlier many years.

Despite the latest emphasis on “affordability” by Trump and members of each events, Republicans on Capitol Hill are skeptical of laws to clamp down on bank card rates of interest.

“I fear that the net effect would be to reduce the availability of credit to those people who need it the most,” Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), one other member of the banking committee, advised HuffPost. “Credit card interest rates, like many interest rates, are calculated not just on what the going financial interest rates are, but your ability to repay those kind of things, and [the proposed cap] kind of ignores those fundamental issues.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) advised reporters equally on Tuesday: “I think that would probably deprive an awful lot of people of access to credit around the country. Credit cards would probably become debit cards. So yeah, I mean, that’s not something I’m out there advocating for, let’s put it that way.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) mentioned she didn’t consider Trump was even critical concerning the thought.

“This administration has not demonstrated an earnestness that they do what they say and say what they do,” Ocasio-Cortez advised reporters. “Ever since they have been sworn in, they have done everything but bring down costs.”

Speaker Johnson praised the president for proposing concepts that Republicans would by no means recommend on their very own.

“What I love about this president is he’s willing to think outside the box and propose ideas for us to work through to see if it will actually achieve the desired objective, and that’s what we’re in the process of doing every day around here,” Johnson mentioned. “So again, I wouldn’t get too spun up about, you know, ideas that are out of the box that are proposed or suggested.”