Washington Report: NACS To Testify at Swipe Fees Hearing

Also: EPA receives harsh criticism at first House hearing and President Obama's budget is expected next week.

February 11, 2011

House Financial Services Committee to Hold Hearing on Swipe Fees
The Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit plans to hold a hearing on the debit card swipe fee provisions that were included in last year??s financial services reform bill. The hearing is scheduled to take place next week on Thursday, February 17.

This marks an important moment in the swipe fee battle for merchants. We must preserve the fair and balanced market reforms that were put in place last year. The Federal Reserve now has the authority to fix a broken system of blatantly unfair swipe fees when it comes to debit cards.

Testifying on behalf of NACS and the Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC) is Doug Kantor, general counsel for NACS, and also Richard Peck of 7-Eleven.

Retailers can take part in ensuring our hard fought battle does not get delayed or repealed. Retailers should take action in the following three ways:

  1. Send a comment to the Federal Reserve Board in favor of their proposed debit fee setting regulations. In December, after extensive analysis, the Federal Reserve released their first draft of these regulations, which include limiting the per transaction fee for debit purchases to between 7 and 12 cents. This represents a reduction in fees of approximately 80%. There is a comment period currently underway, in which the public is invited to weigh in on the proposed regulations. The comments are almost entirely from bankers (what else do bankers have to do all day but write comments to the Fed?) who are trying to water down, delay or repeal the regulations. In order to balance out the public comments, click here to send your own letter, which you can edit or write in your own comments. This is extremely important!
  2. Register for NACS Day on Capitol Hill March 9-10. Join your industry colleagues in Washington, D.C., to lobby your members of Congress. NACS will set up appointments for you and conduct a group briefing prior to your meetings. Additionally, there will be NACS staff attending most meetings to help you find your way. The credit card lobby is planning on bringing hundreds, if not thousands of bankers to town in February to lobby against the swipe fee regulations. Do not let them distort this issue! Stand up for yourself and your business! Click here to register.??
  3. Respond to NACS Calls to Action. As this battle develops over the next several months, NACS will be sending calls to action requesting you to write letters, make phone calls or arrange appointments with your members of Congress back home. When you get these emails please open them and respond to the request. It is because of the tremendous grassroots pressure the convenience store industry placed on Congress that these much-needed reforms are close to becoming a reality. It is essential that we keep up the pressure these last few months! Click here to send the most recent letter.

Contact Lyle Beckwith at with any questions on how you can help preserve swipe fee reform.

Energy and Commerce Hearing on EPA Authority a "Brawl"
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Chief Lisa Jackson played defense against a panel full of congressional Republicans looking to strip her regulatory powers.

GOP members on the House Energy and Commerce Committee blasted EPA??s greenhouse gas regulations and noted that the Obama administration had been ignoring the rules?? impact on jobs and was circumventing Congress by moving ahead on its own.

Chairmen Fred Upton (R-MI) and Ed Whitfield (R-KY) proposed legislation just last week that would upend EPA climate rules. "Chairman Upton??s bill would, in its own words, 'repeal?? the scientific finding regarding greenhouse gas emissions," Jackson warned. "Politicians overruling scientists on a scientific question ?" that would become part of this committee??s legacy."

Opponents of the administration??s position say the agency??s climate rules will cause devastating job losses across the economy. They also argue that the EPA is under no obligation to issue those rules in the first place and that the interpretation of their authority has been taken too far.

Committee Democrats are generally supportive of the EPA??s position. However Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) called the agency??s suite of regulations a "complicated mess." Dingell has not made up his mind as to whether he will support the Upton-Whitfield legislation.

NACS Staff Contact: Corey Fitze

Budget will be Top of Mind Next Week
President Obama is due to submit his 2011 budget on Monday and Capitol Hill has been abuzz with activity all week

Responding to demands from House conservatives, Republican appropriators on Thursday upped their target for spending cuts to $100 billion in reductions relative to President Obama??s fiscal 2011 budget request.

Appropriations Committee panel members are drafting legislation, technically called a Continuing Resolution (CR), that would fund the government through the end of fiscal 2011 while slicing large chunks out of many federal agency budgets.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said GOP leaders were still "working with our members and our committee chairmen to make sure that this cut is as big as possible." NACS will be on the lookout for specific budget requests including FDA funding, food safety funding, Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) program funding, and also funding for the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

NACS Staff Contact: John Eichberger

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