They get a double whammy, forced to pay a service fee for allowing debits and seeing their sales reduced during a recession because potential customers withhold their patronage not wanting that fee added to the price tag. It's a shame it couldn't have taken effect a month ago in time for the holidays, but the bottom line is, once again, if the GOP really cares as much about small businesses as they say, really believes their quite accurate rhetoric about small businesses driving the economy, they'll support a measure on behalf of thousands of merchants across the country even if it cuts into Visa and Mastercards already quite robust profits. I think it's pretty clear which industry needs the help right now; the ratio of credit card companies going bankrupt to credit card holders doing so is vanishingly small. The real questions are, once again, why did it take a Democratic Senator to legislate the Republicans rhetoric, and will the banking lobbies pressure on its branch of government be enough to kill one of those wonderful reform measures the GOP likes so much.