Another lone senator may be on the cusp of interrupting business in the Senate, as Senator Marshall threatens to hold up passage of the National Defense Authorization Act in the hopes of forcing a vote on his bill targeting credit card fees. For his efforts, opponents of the bill at home are trying to paint him as an LGBTQ-friendly communist sympathizer.

Mr. Marshall said in a statement last week, “I have no desire to derail the NDAA and have always supported our military,” but he described a “frustration” with what he said was a lack of “an open amendment process.”

Now, though, Mr. Marshall appears to be willing to hold up the NDAA’s passage in the Senate in order to secure a vote on his Credit Card Competition Act. The bill is aimed at creating more competition between credit card companies and reducing the fees levied by the companies on cardholders.

“At a time of economic uncertainty and skyrocketing inflation, these credit card companies are increasing their hidden swipe fees and price-gouging small businesses and consumers,” Mr. Marshall said in a statement.

The bill is bipartisan, as it was co-sponsored by Senator Durbin, a Democrat who himself introduced a similar bill in 2022 that did not pass.

“Credit card swipe fees inflate the prices that consumers pay for groceries and gas.  It’s time to inject real competition into the credit card network market, which is dominated by the Visa-Mastercard duopoly,” Mr. Durbin said in a statement.

It looks as if Senate leadership may be willing to give Mr. Marshall a vote in exchange for his cooperation on the NDAA, with Mr. Marshall telling Punchbowl News that he was “given assurances” that there would be a vote.

Opponents of Mr. Marshall’s legislation argue that the changes he’s proposed would affect credit card companies’ rewards programs and make it harder for people to get credit cards.

Lobbyists for the credit card companies, such as the Electronic Payments Coalition, have lined up to try to block the measure. The organization’s director, Aaron Stetter, said the legislation “would hurt consumers by increasing costs, weakening payment security, harming small financial institutions,” and “reducing access to credit.”

“Despite vigorous lobbying from Walmart and Target, this ‘Big-box Bill’ was deeply unpopular legislation when it was previously introduced last year — among both Democrats and Republicans,” Mr. Stetter said in a statement.

While Mr. Marshall pushes for changes to the credit card industry, he is facing criticism from a new nonprofit, the Conservative Accountability Foundation, that sprang up suddenly back home in Kansas after he began his campaign.

The group is sending out mailers in his home state, saying, “Senator Roger Marshall and Democrats want to take your credit card rewards points.” They feature a photo of Mr. Marshall superimposed in front of a pride flag and a flag of the People’s Republic of China, and adjacent to a rainbow Target logo.

“Target hates conservatives. But Marshall’s bill gives them billions — paid for by YOUR rewards points,” the mailer reads. “And your financial data could be processed by partners of the Chinese Communist Party.”

In response to questions from the Sun regarding the mailers and who is behind the Conservative Accountability Foundation, Mr. Marshall’s chief of staff, Brent Robertson, said it appeared to be orchestrated by “political operatives.”

“The average working Kansan spends over $800 a year in hidden swipe fees at the grocery store and gas pump, so if a couple of pencil neck ‘political operatives’ convinced some New York banks to light money on fire in Kansas in an attempt to save their monopoly, God bless ‘em,” Mr. Robertson said.

 “Kansans are far smarter than they think,” Mr. Robertson added.