TOPEKA — U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. visited Casey’s General Store in Topeka to meet with Casey’s leadership team members and discuss the impacts credit card swipe fees are having on their stores. Senator Marshall toured the store, met with employees, shadowed the store manager, and assisted in serving customers behind the counter. 

Casey’s General Store has 190 locations across Kansas and employs over 3,000 Kansans. Due to the lack of competition in the payment processing industry, Casey’s has paid an estimated $17 million in credit card swipe fees this year alone. Senator Marshall introduced bipartisan legislation, the Credit Card Competition Act, that would inject more competition into the credit card market to drive down the inflationary swipe fee costs that are price gouging Americans at a rate seven times higher than the European Union.  

Senator Marshall was joined by Tom Brennan, SVP of Operations and Merchandising Officer of Casey’s, Doug Beech, Senior Assistant General Counsel and Director of Government Relations for Casey’s, and Doug Kanton, General Counsel, National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS). 

“Small businesses like Casey’s General Store are the backbone of the Kansas economy. Across the state, thousands of convenience stores employ nearly 20,000 Kansans. These stores generate more than $7.3 billion in sales annually, and credit card swipe fees remain one of their largest expenses,” Senator Marshall said. “Credit card swipe fees are inflation multipliers crushing our small businesses and forcing them to raise their prices on consumers. I have legislation to alleviate the Wall Street megabanks and Visa-Mastercard price gouging tactics and inject competition into the credit card industry.” 

“At Casey’s, we take pride in serving local communities throughout the heartland, but rapidly increasing credit card swipe fees hurt our guests and our business,” Tom Brennan, Chief Merchandising Officer of Casey’s General Stores Inc., said. “With credit card fees rising by more than 50% just since 2020, the pressure this puts on the average family only gets worse. Something must be done and we can’t thank Senator Marshall enough for being a champion of Main Street by working to slow Wall Street’s efforts to swipe money right out of our pockets.”

“All of Main Street appreciates the incredible support that Senator Roger Marshall provides every day,” Doug Kantor, General Counsel of the National Association of Convenience Stores, said. “Senator Marshall’s Credit Card Competition Act is the most significant piece of legislation under consideration today to help small businesses across the nation. Credit card swipe fees multiply the effects of inflation and hit small businesses the hardest. It’s time for Congress to follow Senator Marshall’s lead and choose their constituents over Wall Street bankers.”