Monday, February 5
Below is the latest update from the National Retail Federation (NRF) on retail advocacy activities on the Federal level.
Credit Card Competition Act Fly-In
Last week, NRF helped host a small business fly-in to advocate for passage of the Credit Card Competition Act. The event featured over 80 small business owners from across the country who met with their senators and staff. Over 70 meetings were conducted for the small businesses to share their stories and discuss how excessive swipe fees are impacting their businesses, customers and communities. Learn more about the burden of high swipe fees here.
Senate Immigration Deal Announced
Last night, a bipartisan group of senators completed an immigration/border security deal. Full section-by-section is available here, but here’s a brief summary:
Under the deal, migrants’ protection claims and appeals are adjudicated in six months or less by USCIS asylum officers rather than the immigration court system. By requiring detention or mandatory supervision of all migrants processed at the border, the language seeks to ensure that migrants follow through with the asylum process and do not disappear into the interior of the country.
The senators would authorize DHS to hire more personnel to ensure rapid protection determinations occur within 90 days or less. The language raises the asylum screening standard to ensure that only migrants with legitimate asylum claims will be allowed to remain in the country. Migrants “wishing to do Americans harm” would be expelled. Individuals who receive a positive protection determination under the new enhanced standard would be provided work authorization.
The language creates a new temporary expulsion authority to be used when encounters exceed DHS capacity. Under the new system, the border would close and would remain closed until DHS has processing capacity and operational control of the border for a sustained period.
The language also provides a path to permanent legal status to tens of thousands of Afghan nationals who served our country and were evacuated to the U.S. following the fall of Kabul in August 2021.
The deal adds 50,000 new employment and family-based visas per year for five years. It prevents children of H-1B recipients from “aging out” of their legal status at 21 under their parent’s employment visa.
The deal certainly does not include everything NRF has supported in terms of immigration reform. However, there is nothing in the deal that NRF opposes. The business community generally and NRF specifically have long urged bipartisan cooperation in this area. As such, we are positioned to be generally supportive of the deal and appreciative of the senators’ efforts. Of course, even if the Senate manages to pass the deal with 60 votes, it is still a long way to being enacted into law.
House Passes Tax Bill
Last week, the House passed H.R. 7024, the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act, which includes several business tax extensions. NRF issued a statement of support and is encouraging the Senate to take action. The goal is to get the bill to the president in early February to minimize disruptions during the tax-filing season.
With No Sign of Recession, NRF Economist Says Labor Market and Interest Rates Will Play Major Roles in 2024
After a better-than-expected performance in 2023, NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz sayswhat happens with the economy in 2024 could depend largely on the labor market and what the Federal Reserve does with interest rates. “There is still a risk that keeping rates too high could curb the economy’s momentum more than necessary,” Kleinhenz said in the February issue of NRF’s Monthly Economic Review. “Yet if they lower rates too soon, it could allow the economy to re-inflate and make it harder to contain inflation pressures.”
NRF to Testify Before FMC on Red Sea Shipping Issues
NRF will testify before the Federal Maritime Commission for its hearing on the impact to shipping from the Red Sea disruptions. The hearing will be live streamed on the Commission’s YouTube channel. NRF’s live-streamed testimony will mirror previous testimony before the House Transportation & Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation highlighting the current concerns about longer shipping times, increased costs, efforts to mitigate risk, and concerns with increased congestion in the coming months.
National Retail Federation’s Advocacy Roundup
