Dealers Traverse Capitol Hill, Pushing for Lower Credit Card Fees, Housing Reforms

Members of the Western Building Materials Association meet with Sen. Mike Crapo, R-ID (center)

By Craig Webb

LBM dealers from across the country met today with members of Congress and their staffers to break banks' stranglehold on credit card processing fees, create targeted federal tax credits for single-family homes, and expand workforce development and skilled trades training.

The visits to dozens of Senators' and Representatives' offices by executives at lumberyards and related organizations were organized by the National Lumber & Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA) and regional LBM groups.

Unlike past years, housing and affordability are big concerns in Washington today. NLBMDA's Legislative Conference is taking place while Congressional leaders are hashing out differences over major pro-housing legislative packages passed by the House and Senate. Differences between those bills now must be reconciled. Because this work is happening between Congressional leaders and the White House, NLBMDA told its delegates to use their time with rank-and-file members to push other legislation that still could benefit from their support.

Credit card swipe fees is topic #1. Those fees have risen 70% since 2020, NLBMDA's issue summary says, and have become a disturbingly large cost item on dealers' profit and loss sheets. The Credit Card Competition Act of 2026 would promote competition in a market where Visa and MasterCard hold a near-monopoly over card processing. The bill's advocates believe that introducing competition will reduce swipe fees, which in 2024 averaged 2.35% of the purchase price.

Versions of this bill have been debated for years, but the bill enjoys stronger support than ever now, in part because President Donald Trump has endorsed it. Hopes are high that, in this election year, it will finally pass.

The dealers also urged lawmakers to support the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act. This legislation would create a targeted federal tax credit to support the construction and rehabilitation of affordable single-family homes in communities where development costs exceed market values. Homes developed through the program must be affordable to families making below 140% of area median income. Advocates project the act can support the development or rehabilitation of 500,000 homes.

Reps. Juan Ciscomani, R-AZ, and Marie Glusenkamp Perez, D-WA, promote construction workforce development in separate presentations March 18 at the NLBMDA Legislative Conference. (Craig Webb photos)

Dealers' third major "ask"--support for the CONSTRUCTS Act, designed to increase the number of workers in construction trades--were celebrated at this morning's breakfast briefing by two of its sponsors: Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-AZ, and Marie Glusenkamp Perez, D-WA.

CONSTRUCTS (short for Creating Opportunities for New Skills Training at Rural or Underserved Colleges and Trade Schools) addresses the labor shortages in home building and other trades by expanding construction-focused education and training programs at community colleges, junior colleges, and career and technical education institutions. Ciscomani--who emigrated from Mexico and became a U.S. citizen in his 20s--noted that he graduated from a community college. "We have a [labor] shortage, and these kinds of things help.

Glusenkamp Perez, whose family runs an auto repair shop and who built her own house, saw CONSTRUCTS as part of a bigger mission that extends to restoring shop classes in junior high schools. "We've got to elevate the trades all the way through," she said. "We can't have people get a Ph.D. in physics but don't know how a circuit works."