ARLINGTON, Va.–With the Senate continuing to hammer out details in a massive $2-trillion bill that seeks to provide economic relief from the coronavirus pandemic, both credit union trade groups said they spent the weekend and continue to work on Capitol Hill to ensure credit unions are included—and in a positive way.
While everyone is interested in seeing a package of relief pass Congress as the economic situation worsens, there remain concerns over any negative provisions if the bill is “rammed through” without any opportunity for review.
Ahead of the first Senate vote on the so-called phase III stimulus package—which ended in a 47-47 tie—NAFCU CEO Dan Berger sent a letter to congressional leadership urging that any resources provided to banks in relief efforts are also provided to credit unions and reiterated specific areas of relief for credit unions.
NAFCU EVP and General Counsel Carrie Hunt said how quickly the legislation has been authored and is being passed could lead to “unintended consequences. This is unprecedented. We’ve never seen this before, even during the Great Depression. There has been discussion of credit unions, but we want to ensure credit unions are also included in the language and there are no mistakes. We want to make sure credit unions have the tools they need, including capital relief and relief from some of the accounting rules.
“We do want to get this done, but we also want to get it done right,” Hunt continued. “I’m glad it slowed down, actually. You just don’t want something that’s been rammed through.”
‘Engaged on All Fronts’
CUNA’s chief advocacy officer, Ryan Donovan, said the trade group has been “engaged on all fronts” and expects the final bill to include provisions related to deposit insurance, liquidity, troubled debt restructurings, CECL and small business lending.
“A lot needs to happen before this legislation gets into law,” said Donovan. “The legislation currently being considered is absent any contributions from Senate Democrats and folks in the House of Representatives. We will have to see how the bill changes as a result of those interactions, but hopefully Congress will be able to get something to the president’s desk by the end of the week.”
Further complicating matters: At least five members of the Senate are in quarantine due to coronavirus, including Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who has a confirmed case of coronavirus. Current Senate rules require senators to be personally present in order to vote.
The NAFCU Letter
In addition to amending provisions to provide parity between credit unions and banks, Berger’s letter also called for:
- Measures providing relief from the member business lending cap and increasing access for credit unions to Small Business Administration (SBA) programs
- Providing capital relief by delaying the current expected credit loss (CECL) standard, granting relief on Troubled Debt Restructurings, and requesting the NCUA further adjust its risk-based capital (RBC) rule, and more
- Modernizing governance provisions of the Federal Credit Union Act
- Allowing credit unions to serve more underserved communities and fully funding programs that support these efforts
- Raising the 15-year maturity limit of certain credit union loans
- Modernizing the E-SIGN Act
- Urging financial regulators to provide more regulatory relief