WASHINGTON - Chris Newton, president of the Texas Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association (TPCA), was joined by Main Street business owners yesterday in testifying before the House Small Business Committee??s Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight about the impact of credit and debit card swipe fees.

"In my industry, the situation is unbearable," said Newton. "For the last four years running, my industry has paid more in card fees than it has made in total pre-tax profits."

Debit card swipe fees, which were partially reformed in the recently enacted Wall Street Accountability Act, cost American businesses and their customers billions of dollars per year.

Newton also explained how swipe fees are hurting the economy at an already fragile time. "In the last half of 2007 and first half of 2008, more than 3,000 gas stations and convenience stores went out of business," he said. "Many of those businesses would have survived if it wasn??t for these fees which are, on average, the second-highest operating expense our [TPCA] members have. That impact cannot be overstated."

Also testifying at the hearing was Jerry Buss, who owns 55 Pizza Hut franchises in western Pennsylvania.

Buss praised the congressional action so far on swipe fees, saying, "At this time in our economic anxiety, Congress has given merchants and our customers a lift ?" you have begun to introduce competition into a 'market?? where no market forces previously existed. In passing the recent financial services law ?" and specifically the Durbin Amendment ?" you voted to ensure that debit card fees were reasonable and proportional to their actual costs, a major improvement over the extraordinarily high swipe fees imposed on us by the big banks and their card associations."

Both Newton and Buss expressed hope that Congress and the Federal Reserve would not succumb to the distortions continuing to be offered by the banking industry.

"The big banks will continue to say that they can??t survive in a transparent and competitive market," said Buss. "But I do."

Read the testimonies from the entire panel and check out video highlights on YouTube.