Restaurants put swipe fees, labor and trade before Congress

Forty-two percent of restaurant operators were not profitable in 2025. That margin problem now anchors the National Restaurant Association's agenda for the incoming 120th Congress. Its three requests target worker availability, credit-card processing fees and food-and-beverage trade.

Restaurants account for nearly 1 million locations and 15.7 million employees, according to the association. The sector is the nation's second-largest private employer. For guests, dining out competes with other discretionary spending as household budgets tighten. Operators have largely absorbed higher costs rather than pass them through. That protects traffic in the short term but compresses margins toward zero.

What costs is the NRA targeting?

President and CEO Michelle Korsmo said: “Restaurants are at the intersection of the nation's affordability conversation, managing increasing costs and decreasing margins as their customers scrutinize every dollar they spend.” Her prescription combines comprehensive immigration reform, the Credit Card Competition Act and tariff-less trade for food and beverage items.

• Immigration: Reform that helps restaurants find, hire and retain workers. The association links staffing stability to overtime, turnover and service gaps, making workforce policy a direct operating-cost issue.
• Card fees: The Credit Card Competition Act would introduce competition into credit-card processing and pressure down swipe fees. The policy pitch calls fees the third-highest cost for many operators, behind food and labor.
• Trade: Stable, predictable policy and tariff-less treatment for food and beverage items. The association presents this as a hedge against supply-cost volatility that operators already face.

Together, the three proposals target the labor, payment and supply lines operators already manage, but each measure reaches store economics through a different congressional mechanism.

Can Congress turn priorities into relief?

Beyond those three issues, the association says it will pursue policies that lower costs for guests and operators, advance the restaurant workforce and strengthen the industry's economic impact. That is an agenda, not a forecast. The Association provides no vote dates, tariff schedule or modeled savings. The source gives no average processing-fee reduction.

Sean Kennedy, chief advocacy officer, said: “Restaurants are the country's second-largest private employer and drove more than 5% of GDP in 2025. Our priorities for the new Congress are about making restaurants more affordable to run and more affordable to visit.”

Kennedy also argues that federal decisions reach every community. Investment and growth, he says, can support jobs and stronger local economies beyond the industry. The Association presents a bipartisan path to action. Each proposal offers operators a plausible cost lever, but the source does not establish legislative readiness. No specific immigration measure is identified, and no processing-rate or food-cost reduction is guaranteed.

What does the Common Cents Act prove?

This year, Congress passed the Common Cents Act. The law gives operators federal guidance on cash rounding and safe-harbor protections as the penny phases out. The Association presents the measure as proof that sustained advocacy can secure bipartisan progress.

Cash rounding addresses payment handling at the counter, while immigration, card processing and tariffs reach much deeper into staffing, sourcing and operating economics across the business. The association intends to use that advocacy template on its three larger priorities. No implementation timetable appears for the current proposals.

How should operators test the promises?

Operators should start with their own numbers. The policy analysis recommends recording current card-processing rates and quantifying potential savings. It also urges operators to press their state restaurant associations, where federal advocacy can gain local force.

• Labor: Track hiring difficulty, turnover and overtime as immigration rules develop. Workforce stability affects labor expense and service capacity.
• Swipe fees: Benchmark processing rates before any legislative change. The dollar benefit will depend on current rates and transaction volume.
• Food and supply: Include trade policy when reviewing supplier contracts. The source recommends seeking predictable terms where possible and monitoring policy as a planning input.

The source argues that saving one or two points on swipe fees or food costs could decide between reinvestment and closure at a troubled unit. That conclusion lacks a supporting cost model. Restaurant margins can change quickly, but the size and timing of any relief remain unknown. State advocacy gives operators a way to press the case. It cannot, however, substitute for congressional action.

What happens next?

Whether these priorities become law will determine if promised savings ever reach restaurant invoices, staffing plans and supplier negotiations during a period of thin operating margins. The Association's near-term objective is movement on all three priorities during the 120th Congress. Operators can measure exposure now. The next test is legislative action: whether immigration reform, the Credit Card Competition Act and tariff-less trade can move from agenda to enacted policy.