Credit card swipe fees have climbed 70% since 2019 to $198 billion in 2025, according to the Nilson Report, fueling a renewed push in Congress to address what critics call a regressive system. A growing coalition of retailers, lawmakers, and academics argues that the fees, which fund rewards on premium cards, effectively transfer wealth from poorer cash users to richer cardholders, with Harvard researchers estimating a $30 billion annual shift. Senators Dick Durbin and Roger Marshall reintroduced the Credit Card Competition Act in January, a bill that would require large issuers to offer merchants an alternative to Visa and Mastercard for processing, and President Trump has endorsed the measure. The credit card industry disputes the redistribution framing, noting that cash has its own costs and that rewards benefit moderate-income families, while some businesses are already adding surcharges or cash discounts.