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DA T E L INE Appropriations Committee and has been urging full funding for fuel assistance and new energy trading rules; and Rep. Frank Guinta (R-NH), who is seriously consider- ing co-sponsorship of the NORA bill. Trunzo also met with Chairman Gary Gensler and Commissioner Jill Sommers of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on the implementation of new trading rules under last year's Wall Street Reform law. LIHEAP UPDATE The LIHEAP Coalition of organizations and companies supporting the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program offered the following update: Similar to years past, Congress has not completed final action on the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education spending bill before the start of the new fiscal year on October 1, 2011. This required the Congress to take up two very short-term spending measures to continue the operations of the government, with the current continuing reso- lution running through November 18th. It is not yet clear how OMB and HHS will allocate LIHEAP funds to the states during this period. As reported below, there are some differences in the method of allocating funds to the states in the Senate and House measures. On September 23rd the Senate Appropriations Committee favorably reported the FY 2012 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill to the full Senate. This measure, S.1599, pro- vides $3.6 billion for the FY2012 LIHEAP program which includes $3.4 billion for the formula block grant and $200 million in emergency contingency funds. The Senate bill represents a $1.1 billion decrease in funding for regular LIHEAP program compared to FY 2011. Within the $3.4 billion for the formula block grant, the Senate measure also allows up to $3 million for program integrity and oversight efforts and $27 million for leverag- ing incentive funds. On Sept embe r 29th the Hous e Appropriations Committee released a draft proposal on the FY 2012 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education funding bill. A subcommittee markup of this draft spending bill has not been scheduled as of this date. The draft proposal recommends $3.39 billion for the FY 2012 LIHEAP for- mula block grant, but no additional funds for emergency contingency. This also repre- sents a $1.1 billion decrease in the regular LIHEAP block grant compared to FY 2011 and does not provide the $200 million in emergency contingency that was provided last year and also included in this year's Senate bill. As you may recall, the President's proposed budget for FY 2012 recommends funding LIHEAP at $2.57 billion, of which $1.98 billion is for the regular program and $590 million is for the emergency contingency funds. HEARTLAND REPORTS MER- CHANTS BENEFIT FROM 'DURBIN DOLLAR SAVINGS' Heartland Payment Systems, one of the nation's largest payments processors, released state-specific data about the effects of swipe-fee reform, known as the Durbin amendment, on business owners in various states. The data Heartland collected between October 1, 2011, and October 16, 2011, across Heartland's portfolio of 250,000 merchant locations shows for every $100,000 of Visa and MasterCard signature debit and credit card volume processed, the average savings per merchant across all states is $260.24. Merchants in Washington, D.C., received the highest average savings, $333.94, while Montana merchants saw the least average savings, $127.87, Heartland reported on its website. The savings variance from state to state is a result of the number of large versus small banks in the area, as well as the mix of credit and debit card volume processed, Heartland said. The figures represent the averages of actual credit versus debit and regulated versus non-regulated debit transactions for Heartland merchants and do not include the impact of PIN debit volume, the company pointed out. "Merchants are wondering how the percentage of regulated versus non-regu- lated transactions in their states would impact their savings, and this data pro- vides insight into exactly that," said Bob Baldwin, Heartland's president. "By providing business owners a frame of ref- erence for how much money, on average, their peers across their state are saving from Durbin, they have an idea of what their own savings may be. Familiarizing themselves with this information is a pre- liminary step in ensuring they receive the full benefit of the reform." The Durbin amendment was proposed by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 to place a cap on interchange or transaction fees. The average fee of 44 cents per debit card transaction charged to merchants by the card brands was considered excessive by supporters of the legislation. Those in opposition worked to stall or defeat the bill, but after much debate and a failed bill to delay interchange regulation, the final rule was handed down in late June. It went into effect on October 1, 2011. FUEL OIL NEWS (ISSN 0016-2396), Canada Publication Mail Agreement #1588621, is published monthly by Bev-Al Communications, Inc. 1030 W. Higgins Road, Suite 230, Park Ridge, Il 60068. Circulated free of charge to qualified individuals in the oil heating industry in the United States. Additional and/or personal copies are available on a paid subscription basis only. 1-year subscription rates: $28.00 USA. $40.00 Canada and Mexico via service postage. $90.00 other foreign countries via air-mail postage. Single copies: $8.00 U.S. via first-class postage. $12.00 other Canada/Mexico/Foreign via airmail postage. Payable in US currency. Periodicals postage paid at Park Ridge, IL and additional mailing offices. Copyright 2011 by Bev-Al Communications, Inc. Reproduction of any portion or portions of this publication is specifically prohibited without written consent. Postmaster: Send address changes to FUEL OIL NEWS, PO Box 4290, Port Jervis, NJ 12771. 4 NOVEMBER 2011 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com CALENDAR OF EVENTS JANUARY 2012 AHR EXPO Monday, January 23 – Wednesday, January 25 McCormick Place Convention Center Chicago, Illinois www.ahrexpo.com MARCH The Work Truck Show 2012 March 6-8, 2012 Indiana Convention Center Indianapolis, IN www.ntea.com