Welcome to Learning English, a daily 30 minute program from The Voice of America.

I'm Brian Lynn.

And I'm Katie Weaver.

This program is aimed at English learners.

So we speak slowly and we use words and phrases especially written for people learning English.

Coming up, Andrew Smith presents Ask a Teacher. We also have words and their stories from Anna Mateo. And we close the

close the show with an American story.

But first,

The U.S. Department of Justice, DOJ, has brought a lawsuit against Visa.

It is accusing the Financial Services Company of using illegal methods to block competition

in the debit card market.

The lawsuit states the San Francisco-based company penalizes businesses and banks

that do not use Visa's own payment processing technology.

The DOJ argues that Visa's anti-competition methods cost individuals and businesses billions of dollars every year.

Visa earns money for each purchase or transaction processed on its own network.

The DOJ estimates about 60% of debit transactions in the U.S.

take place on Visa's debit network.

This adds up to more than $7 billion each year.

In a statement, Attorney General Merrick Garland

said the DOJ found that Visa had unlawfully gained enough power to charge money or fees that

far exceed what it could charge in a competitive market.

Garland added that businesses and banks then pass those costs on to consumers.

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