WASHINGTON—The House has passed a version of the fiscal year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) as the negotiating continues over arriving at legislation that will also pass the Senate.
The $768-billion defense bill passed by a vote of 363-70, with the House version absent language that would have expanded an arrangement that allows waivers for certain costs for credit unions on military installations to also include banks, CUNA reported.
The banking industry has been lobbying for the language to be included.
“Credit unions have successfully demonstrated their value and commitment to military members and their families, which is why the House has rejected expanding the arrangement between credit unions and the Department of Defense throughout this process,” said CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle. “This bill is a must-pass by the end of the year, and we’ll remain engaged as the Senate moves it forward as well.”
An earlier version of the NDAA passed the House in September, also without the language. The latest version does not include the SAFE Banking Act, which would allow credit unions to serve cannabis-related businesses in states that have legalized cannabis.
CUNA Says It’s Disappointed
"Passing the NDAA is an important annual milestone for Congress, and we are disappointed the SAFE Banking Act provisions were not included in the final bill,” said CUNA’s Deputy Chief Advocacy Officer Jason Stverak. “Its bipartisan support in both chambers proves that it is a common-sense solution for our country’s evolving stance on cannabis policy. We look forward to working with Congress to make this bill law in the new year."
Remote online notary provisions were also excluded from the latest version.
Crypto-Concerns
Separately, CUNA sent a letter to the House Financial Services Committee ahead of a hearing on digital assets.
The trade association shared concerns about regulation of cryptocurrency.
CUNA stated it believes "Congress should look for ways to regulate the delivery of financial services using digital currencies to ensure that consumers are protected in the same way if they received financial services from a financial institution Furthermore, Congress should look for ways enable credit unions and other financial institution to provide digital asset related services, so that these services can be properly overseen by regulators."
In a letter signed by CUNA President and CEO Jim Nussle, the trade association added, "As you know, our member credit unions are highly regulated in their operation and credit union members are protected by a plethora of consumer protection laws. The crypto and digital currency sectors operate largely outside of the traditional financial safeguards and generally without financial intermediaries where the role of stabilizer and protector generally rest. In fact, like fintech, once one wades through the novel technology, the fundamental innovation of cryptocurrency is the elimination of the financial intermediary. Unfortunately, when there is no financial intermediary, the functions that they provide also are lost. One only has to look no further than lost access to bitcoin for those that lost or forgot their passwords to their digital wallets for a simple but powerful example of the function intermediary."