Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley plans to introduce legislation to cap the annual percentage rate (APR) of credit cards at 18%, according to Real Clear Politics.
Average credit card rates are hovering around 24% as of August and American credit card debt passed the $1 trillion mark in the same month. Hawley’s legislation is the first attempt at capping credit card rates since Democratic Rep. New York Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced the Loan Shark Prevention Act in 2019 to cap credit card APRs at 15%. (RELATED: Americans Are Getting Crushed By Debt — And It May Just Get Worse)
“Americans are being crushed under the weight of record credit card debt,” Hawley told RCP.
The Fed hiked rates at a historic pace in 2022 as inflation skyrocketed and credit card rates have followed. The federal government spent nearly $5 trillion during the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly according to The New York Times.
WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 23: Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) delivers remarks at the Faith and Freedom Road to Majority conference at the Washington Hilton on June 23, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
“We have a long history in this country of statutes, at the state and a federal level, that prevent what we used to call usury – an old-fashioned word for ripping off working people,” Hawley told RCP.
The Missouri senator said the “government was quick to bail out the banks,” referencing the bailouts of Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic, but has largely “ignored working people struggling to get ahead.”
Hawley called the proposed legislation “common sense” and a way to give “the working class a chance,” according to the RCP.
The senator did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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