More than 20 independent business associations wrote to United States financial regulators and the Department of Justice urging them to block the proposed merger between Capital One and Discover. Small Business Rising coalition partners have identified soaring credit card swipe fees as a key pain point for small businesses, with merchant swipe fees often ranking as the highest business expense after payroll. In addition to urging the Capital One and Discover merger to be blocked, coalition partners have advocated for Congress to pass the bipartisan, bicameral Credit Card Competition Act.    

The American Booksellers Association along with a dozen Small Business Rising coalition partners and hundreds of independent businesses, have declared March 20, 2024 as “SBA: Dump Amazon Day.” The Day of Action is to show opposition to the United States Small Business Administration's partnership with Amazon during its annual celebration of small businesses, National Small Business Week (NSBW), happening this year April 28 - May 4, 2024. 

Join independent businesses from across the country for a virtual town hall event to mark our progress and build momentum to rein in monopoly power and level the playing field for small, independent businesses. 

The below undersigned organizations from Small Business Rising — a coalition of small business membership associations representing more than 300,000 independent businesses — are writing to show our support for the bipartisan, bicameral 2023 Credit Card Competition Act (S.1838) and to underscore the urgency for Congress to pass this legislation. With the upcoming Senate Judiciary committee hearing, we urge you to heed the calls of the small business community for this lifeline, which would spur competition and curtail the outsized power of the big banks and dominant credit card companies.

Washington, DC — More than 20 partners of the Small Business Rising coalition—representing hundreds of thousands of small businesses nationwide—released a letter to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) showing their disappointment with the agency’s past financial partnerships with monopolies—such as Amazon, Google, and Visa—for National Small Business Week (NSBW). The letter urges the agency to enlist partners who are aligned with its mission to help Americans start, grow, and build resilient businesses, not mega-corporations that use their power and dominance in the market to stifle competition from smaller competitors. 

We applaud the Federal Trade Commission for filing suit to end Amazon’s monopolization of the online shopping market. No other company poses as big a threat to independent businesses and the health and dynamism of the U.S. economy. Amazon derives its dominance through classic monopoly tactics, and with this lawsuit, the FTC seeks to break Amazon’s chokehold. 

Today small business leaders and advocates joined together for a virtual press event urging support for the Credit Card Competition Act — legislation aimed at injecting competition into the credit card processing industry and addressing the Visa/Mastercard duopoly, which has resulted in skyrocketing swipe fees for independent businesses.

The undersigned Small Business Rising partner organizations released the following statement in response to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) proposed new merger guidelines, including quotes from select partners -- American Booksellers Association, Local First Arizona, Local First La Plata, Running Industry Association and Workplace Solutions Association:

“We applaud the FTC and DOJ for their commitment to robust enforcement of the antitrust laws, particularly against mergers that cut off the ability for small, independent businesses to compete on a level playing field. These new proposed merger guidelines take important steps towards establishing a new era in antitrust where mergers are not given a pass for their theoretical efficiencies, but rather scrutinized for the inherent threats to fairness, broad prosperity, and vibrant local economies. This is a critical step toward fostering fair, open and competitive markets in which independent businesses across the economy can compete and thrive.

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, more than 20 independent business organization members of the Small Business Rising coalition sent a letter to U.S House Judiciary Committee leadership in support of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Chair Lina Khan, who will testify in front of the committee on July 13th, 2023.