The Hill News

As a seventh grade student, I thought I knew how a bill became a law. Now, as a small business owner â€" I’ve learned that there’s always fine print. And that fine print usually means the powerful lobbyists and deep pocketed special interests fight entrepreneurs like me on policy issues.

Last year to much fanfare, the House of Representatives and the Senate passed the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, which was signed into law by President Obama.

But despite what the U.S. Constitution says about how laws are made, this became just another hurdle for the deep-pocketed self interests of those on Wall Street. Ironically, many of the same people and businesses who caused the financial crisis were the targets of reform and are now the ones working to undue it.  

Right now the big banks and credit card companies, including many that were bailed out by taxpayers just two years ago, are spending millions of dollars to peddle their influence at the hi! ghest levels of government in a direct assault on small business owners. Along the way, the banks have enlisted some powerful Members of Congress to do their bidding, some of whom are actually married to bank executives.  And yesterday, their allies in Congress  filed a bill to “study and delay” the rules that would reform debit card swipe fees as an amendment to a small business measure (S. 493) currently on the Senate floor.

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