WASHINGTON— Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Rep. Young Kim (R-CA) are spearheading a bicameral push highlighting the critical role of the Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund in a joint letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought.
America’s Credit Unions, leagues, Inclusiv and the Defense Credit Union Council are backing their efforts.
The letter stresses the importance of CDFIs to economic development in rural and underserved communities, asking the administration to carry out the statutory obligations of the CDFI Fund.
As CUToday.info reported, the CCDFI Fund has effectively gone dark after the Treasury Department’s reduction in force (RIF) eliminated its entire staff, halting all operations.
“This is part of a coordinated effort to reverse the impact of the recent reduction in force (RIF) of the CDFI staff, led by America’s Credit Unions, leagues, and Inclusiv. Following last week’s announcement of the RIF, America’s Credit Unions sent letters outlining the potential negative impact on the communities it serves if the CDFI Fund is terminated,” ACU stated.
DCUC moved quickly to back the efforts of Crapo and Kim.
“Over the weekend, DCUC led a full-scale mobilization of our defense credit unions nationwide to contact their members of congress regarding the CDFI reduction in force and its devastating impact on underserved and military communities. In addition to our formal letter to Secretary Bessent, we have been in direct contact with Senator Crapo’s and Representative Kim’s teams to support their bicameral effort urging Treasury and OMB to restore the CDFI Fund’s staffing and mission,” explained DCUC Chief Advocacy Officer Jason Stverak.
DCUC also reached out to every congressional office Thursday to encourage them to sign onto the Crapo-Kim letter and stand with the credit union community in defending the CDFI Fund.
“While we appreciate others joining this effort, it’s important to note that DCUC has been on the front lines from day one — coordinating action across our network of defense credit unions to ensure our nation’s servicemembers and the communities they serve are not left behind,” Stverak said.
Crapo stated he is “discouraged to see the actions taken to [RIF] the employees, and I’m hopeful that we can get that turned around,” as reported in POLITICO. Sens. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Mike Rounds (R-SD), have also been vocal in their support for the fund, ACU noted. Crapo and Warner co-chair the Senate Community Development Finance Caucus.