GOP Rep. Mike Lawler rejects 10% cap on credit card interest rates

New York Rep. Mike Lawler threw cold water on a bipartisan proposal to cap credit card interest rates at 10%.

President Donald Trump proposed the cap last week, and it has since been endorsed by a slew of unlikely allies, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.

“The president called me,” Warren announced on Jan. 12. “I told him that Congress can pass legislation to cap credit card rates if he will actually fight for it.”

That same day, Lawler told Punchbowl News that he would not support such legislation and wouldn’t expect his Republican colleagues in the House to do so either.

“The idea of just putting in some type of cap, from a traditional finance standpoint, I don’t think very many of us would support,” he said.

According to a survey from Bankrate, nearly half of American credit card holders owe some unpaid balance. One in five of those debtors does not expect to pay off their credit card debt in this lifetime.

The biggest contributor to credit card debt is unplanned expenses, such as medical bills and car repairs. The number of individuals reporting credit card debt has also skyrocketed in recent years due to rising food and utility costs.

Many say their debt is exacerbated by unmanageable interest rates. The average rate is above 19%, with some companies charging as high as 30%.

“For millions of American households, credit card debt represents their highest-cost debt by a wide margin,” said Todd Rossman, a Bankrate analyst.

Banks and credit card companies generally oppose capping interest rates because interest payments make up a significant portion of their revenues. Capital One, for example, reported earning $11 billion in 2023 from credit card interest payments alone.

Between 2023 and 2024, Lawler received nearly $110,000 in campaign contributions from major banks and their employees. He also received almost $20,000 from Visa, which operates the largest credit card payment network in the United States.

Lawler is seeking reelection this year.