A fight to repeal the so-called Durbin Amendment could put anyeffort to overhaul Dodd-Frank at risk, Mallory Duncan, senior vicepresident and counsel at the National Retail Federation warnedTuesday.

“There's not an appetite to have this fight again,” Duncan said,in an interview.

However, credit union officials, who favor repeal, are gearingup for that fight.

The Financial CHOICE Act being pushed by House FinancialServices Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) would repeal theamendment.

The Durbin Amendment to Dodd-Frank placed a cap on credit cardinterchange fees. The common name of the cap comes from itsprincipal sponsor, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.).

The cap was intended to help merchants and consumers as well aslower prices for retail customers. However, it hasn't worked thatway, according to credit unions and other opponents, who said thatmerchants haven't passed that savings on to consumers.

But Duncan and supporters of the amendment said the cap hasincreased competition and quality. “It was a good thing forconsumers and it was a good thing for merchants,” he said.

And Duncan warned that a fight over repeal of the amendmentcould overshadow any effort to amendment Dodd-Frank.

“There's a very strong feeling on Capitol Hill that they don'twant this fight again,” he said. “We're pretty confident [that]very few members want to re-legislate this fight.”

And he added this warning to Hensarling, “It's rare that you seea chairman put a poison pill in his own bill.”

NRF officials said that amendment supporters that make up theMerchants Payment Coalition are in the nation's capital this weekto lobby against repeal.

Also, this week, NAFCU President/CEO B. Dan Berger wrote anop-ed in The Hill newspaper pushing repeal of theamendment.

“We know the amendment hasn't helped American families,” hewrote. “It's been seven years since retailers promised consumersthat they'd pay less at the checkout counter if Congress put pricecaps on debit card fees Analysis of Federal Reserve data showsretailers have pocketed about $42 billion during this period, andshoppers are still waiting for those rollbacks.”

Last year, CUNA officials wrote a letter to lawmakers pushingfor repeal. “A so-called exemption was supposed to 'protect' smallcommunity banks and credit unions from the law's harmful pricecontrols,” the letter stated. “The Durbin Amendment has notdelivered on any of these promises, providing benefits only toretailers, and must be repealed.”

However, even CUNA officials have conceded that Hensarling mighthave to jettison his plan to repeal the amendment in order to gethis bill through the House.

Even if the repeal survives the House, Durbin last year made hisposition clear.

“Repeal of the Durbin Amendment will not happen on my watch,”Durbin said after then- Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) introducedlegislation to repeal the cap.

At the time, Durbin criticized efforts to reopen the fight overhis plan. Instead, he accused the credit and debit card industriesof instituting new, anticompetitive fees.

He accused Visa and MasterCard of creating new fees that wouldpenalize small banks and credit unions and deter them from doingbusiness with other card networks.

“Continued vigilance by Congress and regulators is necessary tohelp expose these rigged schemes and ensure that the credit anddebit card systems operate fairly for all Americans,” Durbinsaid.