Tenth Washington Fly-In Follows SBPA Panel at CHCI Leadership Conference Highlighting Importance of Electronic Payments for Entrepreneurs
Washington, DC — Members of the Small Business Payments Alliance (SBPA) returned to Capitol Hill this week for the organization’s 10th Washington fly-in, marking a major milestone in its effort to ensure that small business owners have a voice in debates over the future of the electronic payments system. The visit comes on the heels of SBPA’s participation in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s 2026 Leadership Conference, where small business owners and policy leaders discussed how electronic payments help entrepreneurs reach customers, manage their businesses, and pursue new opportunities for growth – and the potential impact of federal and state credit card mandates on small businesses.
Ten fly-ins represent hundreds of conversations with lawmakers, providing an opportunity for members of Congress to hear directly from the small business owners who actually use the electronic payments system every day. Throughout these meetings, small business owners are delivering a consistent message: credit cards help small businesses manage cash flow, reach more customers, and grow their businesses. Congress should listen to these Main Street entrepreneurs and reject federal credit card mandates like Durbin-Marshall.
At last week’s CHCI Leadership Conference, SBPA members Maritza and Malki Higuera, owners of M&M Family Orchard in Arizona, joined Arizona State Representative Alma Hernandez and Nicole Duerler-Montant of the Latino Economic Development Center for a discussion moderated by Telemundo’s Alberto Pimienta and opened by Rep. Lou Correa (D-CA). The panel focused on how the global electronic payments system can expand customer access and economic opportunity for Main Street businesses, while examining concerns about how the Durbin-Marshall credit card mandates and state-level interchange proposals could affect Latino entrepreneurship. The discussion built on SBPA’s broader advocacy on behalf of small businesses, including the effort to protect the security and convenience of the existing electronic payments system.
Small businesses see firsthand that accepting credit cards isn’t a cost — it’s an investment. A recent study detailed that small businesses see a 121% return on investment from credit cards, with an average of $26,000 in annual benefits through higher sales, security, and customer convenience. The Durbin-Marshall credit card mandates would undermine those gains, inject risk into the payments system, and ultimately make it harder for small businesses to compete and grow.
A copy of the full report can be found here.
