This is one of those stories that is almost enough to make term limits seem like a good idea.
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, has been fighting unsuccessfully this week for a vote on his proposal to limit the fees charged for using the ATM of a financial institution other than your own.
It might help if he showed some of his Senate colleagues the ATM in the basement of the Capitol, which prominently displays one of those "Fee Notice" signs that frustrate so many constituents. Customers with ATM cards not issued by the U.S. Senate Federal Credit Union face a $2 fee for withdrawals from the machine, on top of whatever fees their own banks charge....
"I've never used an ATM, so I don't know what the fees are," Nelson said, adding that he gets his cash from bank tellers, just not automatic ones. "It's true, I don't know how to use one.
"But I could learn how to do it just like I've . . . I swipe to get my own gas, buy groceries. I know about the holograms."...
[Harkin] has questioned why people should be charged upwards of $5 to withdraw their own money. He said the cost of an ATM transaction is only about 36 cents, yet people often are charged $2 or $3 to take out $20.
"Legal thievery is what it is," he said.
Banks and credit unions have suggested that a cap on ATM fees would lead to fewer machines being available and greater inconvenience for customers.
Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., who said he has used ATMs five or fewer times in his life, likened the Harkin proposal to government price controls -- and he opposes it.
"I just worry about that kind of entry into the private sector," said Johanns, a member of the Senate Banking Committee.
Harkin, who says he uses an ATM "once every couple weeks," probably won't get a vote on his amendment. That's in part because he's surrounded by people who are so removed from the experience of regular, daily life that they don't get what the problem is with having to pay to get access to your own money. And these are the people making our nation's financial policy.