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On Thursday, Demand Progress released a new report that exposes how the financial services industry has plowed around $200 million into advocacy efforts that are centered on blocking passage of the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA), a bipartisan reform that would introduce competition into the payment system.

• Read the Report

The report details how these efforts involve not only money spent on lobbying and campaign contributions, but aggressive and deceitful advertising and paid advocacy designed to convey the impression of grassroots support for the current system, which is enormously profitable for Visa, Mastercard and major banks that issue credit cards.

“For a combination of misleading claims and sheer financial firepower, Wall Street’s defense of credit cards really is something,” said Carter Dougherty, senior fellow for antimonopoly and finance at Demand Progress. “Visa, Mastercard and the big banks have money on their side but only vacant arguments, so this sort of campaign is the result.”

A glaring example of the industry’s astro-turfing is the Small Business Payments Alliance. The group, run by a New York public relations firm, spreads around videos of testimonials against reform from small businesses that have taken money from Visa and Mastercard. The industry has also engaged The Points Guy, a popular credit card website, in fighting change.

The report, entitled, “How Wall Street Money Misleads,” includes detailed evidence of how the credit card industry:

• Pumps money into political campaigns
• Spends heavily on lobbying in Washington and in states that have sought to pass incremental payment system reforms
• Uses advertising in select markets
• Bankrolls different groups and websites to convey widespread support for its position

The Credit Card Competition Act aims to introduce competition into the payment system by allowing merchants to route credit card transactions over networks other than Visa or Mastercard. In the Senate, Sens. Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) are sponsors. In the House, the sponsors are Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Lance Gooden (R-TX). The bill would apply provided the card was issued by a bank with more than $100 billion in assets, a threshold that covers the oligopoly of megabanks whose cards are used for most transactions. It enjoys the support from a wide array of consumer advocates, antimonopoly advocates and small businesses. A fact sheet on the CCCA can be found here.

CND and Fairford Action have called an emergency protest outside the main gate of RAF Fairford, to take place on Saturday, 25 July.

It follows the attack on Iran by a US B-1 bomber stationed at RAF Fairford this week and a statement from Iran’s foreign ministry which branded Britain as an ‘accomplice’ to the US’s illegal war. Iran now views British bases like RAF Fairford as legitimate targets.

This is the latest escalation in almost two weeks of the US’s bombardment of Iran, which has targeted bridges, energy supplies and other civilian infrastructure. In retaliation, Iran has targeted US bases in the Middle East, including Bahrain, Jordan and Qatar.

Rather than condemning the Trump administration for renewing the conflict - which has resulted in even greater casualties and is pushing the global economy even further into crisis - Britain’s new Prime Minister Andy Burnham is continuing the policy of his predecessor Keir Starmer.

This support could now also be putting British lives in danger. It risks an even greater escalation in the Middle East and the involvement of the nuclear-armed alliance of NATO—something that Trump has been pushing for.

Instead, the British government needs to use its diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the situation. Central to this is withdrawing the use of British bases.

CND General Secretary Sophie Bolt said:

“New Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, needs to end Trump's use of Fairford and Diego Garcia now. This is dragging Britain directly into Trump's illegal war on Iran. Public opposition to the use of British bases to commit war crimes overseas is growing*. Diplomatic pathways to achieve a peaceful resolution to Iran's nuclear programme have been shown to work. Trump's bombardment is only sabotaging this progress.

The government’s ongoing attempt to hide behind spurious arguments that Fairford is being used for ‘defensive’ operations cannot be justified. Actively assisting a country breaching international law is indefensible. Burnham needs to do the right thing. That means using diplomacy to end this devastating war and end its complicity in US war crimes.”

The American Federation of Government Employees is calling for the U.S. Senate to oppose President Trump's nominee for general counsel of the Federal Labor Relations Authority, Charlton Allen, due to his history of racism, homophobia, and antisemitism.

In June, the news site NOTUS reported on Charlton Allen’s record of racist and bigoted conduct and rhetoric, both as an individual and through his role founding and serving as publisher of the Carolina Review while he was a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Under Allen’s leadership, the Carolina Review ran covers depicting Black people as monkeys and a Jewish student leader as the devil, among dozens of other instances of hate-filled articles and opinion pieces. During his confirmation hearing, Allen failed either to apologize or to denounce his record at the Carolina Review.

AFGE National President Everett Kelley called his record “disqualifying” when these outrageous examples of Allen’s bigotry were first reported. On Wednesday, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 7-5 to move the nomination to the full Senate for a vote.

In a letter sent today to all U.S. senators, Kelley urged lawmakers to oppose the nomination.

“The FLRA is a small but highly important agency for America's two million federal workers. According to its mission statement, the FLRA exists ‘to promote stable, constructive labor relations that contribute to a more effective and efficient government.’ To do that, it must fairly and impartially investigate unfair labor practices, adjudicate disputes about the duty to bargain, conduct elections, and handle the certification and decertification of federal unions,” Kelley wrote.

“The position of FLRA general counsel carries a five-year term and requires Senate confirmation. It should be filled by someone who commands trust from all sides, labor and management alike. Charlton Allen does not meet that threshold.”

National Nurses United announced today that RNs will be joining protests on Saturday, July 25 to demand justice for the murders of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

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