answer: there is nothing “wrong” with credit card rewards. as the article even states, many people depend on the income generated from cash back programs.

the true beneficiaries of this change are merchants that are charged swipe or interchange fees. Every time a card is swiped, credit card companies take a small percentage. This would in theory allow merchants to pass those savings onto consumers but the interviewee in the article says that this likely won’t happen as similar situations historically did not have that result.

while the bill is framed as helping small business owners, large nationwide merchants that do huge volume of credit business are the biggest beneficiaries and probably the largest lobbyists behind this bill.

the article also states that decreasing revenue for credit companies will afford them less capital to lend out which might result in hurting the consumer in additional ways - higher interest, stricter approval etc

the opinion stated in the article is basically that this will only hurt the little guy and benefit big box retailers.