We gave Chicago Rep. Luis Gutierrez a hard time about his role in negotiations over credit card reforms last spring. By adding an amendment to the House bill allowing the industry one year to change its practices before the new laws would be enforced (which was later bargained down to nine months), Gutierrez gave credit card companies leeway to jack up interest rates and fees on existing customers for no reason other than sheer greed. At a hearing in Washington yesterday, Gutierrez clapped back, accusing the financial services industry of exploiting his legislative goodwill:

"We were reasonable; we were fair. The banks were not," said Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D., Ill.), during a House Financial Services Committee hearing, adding that so-called "swipe fees" were "outrageous."

Gutierrez and a group of House Democrats don't seem willing to appease the banks any longer. Aside from introducing a bill that would speed up implementation of the new rules by more than two months, the lawmakers are also revisiting a problem they briefly considered earlier this year: interchange fees. Currently, businesses that agree to accept major credit cards are required to pay a percentage of each transaction to the credit card companies. That rate is much higher in the United States than elsewhere around the world and small business owners are forced to pass the charge on to customers or swallow the fee themselves. While a proposal by Sen. Dick Durbin to reform the practice was shelved in the Senate earlier this year, lawmakers may revisit the concern now.

Why Gutierrez gave the banks the benefit of the doubt in the first place is a bit confusing. But it's good to see that he won't do so any longer.