ARLINGTON, Va.–Is the passage of the $430-million Inflation Reduction Act an indicator the Democrats may be able to push through other large pieces of legislation this term, including those that include language credit unions both support and oppose?
“This is probably the one package that they can done this Congress,” said NAFCU VP-Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler.
Thaler noted the rules of the Senate only allow certain pieces of legislation to proceed with the 50 votes (and vice presidential tie-breaker) to proceed.
“I think you’ve seen just in the last month--after not passing a lot of bills—that the Democrats have come together to get a number of bills through,” said Thaler, pointing to the CHIPs bill, the so-called burn pit bill and other pieces of legislation that have recently moved.
“They had a stretch of not a lot getting passed, and though it has not been directly related to financial services, we have seen the Democrats advance legislation this summer,” Thaler continued. “It shows they could come back in the fall with big ticket items that will have impacts on credit unions, such as the omnibus and the National Defense Authorization Act. There are a number of things riding on the NDAA. They have shown here in the last month they can find a way forward, so, as they look ahead to the fall they are likely to look for other ways forward.”
Interchange Bill
Among the recent pieces of legislation credit unions is Sen. Durbin’s (D-IL) newest interchange bill, which would give merchants additional payments routing options and to which credit unions are adamantly opposed.
Whether or not the Democrats are able to advance that bill remains to be seen, said Thaler, emphasizing it needs to be taken seriously.
“The merchants are out there touting it quite a bit,” he said. “They have been active in coming to Washington. We’ve been telling credit unions they need to be active too, that they can’t let the merchants get the momentum. Credit unions need to be contacting their legislators, expressing opposition, and coming to Washington. All of those things are important.”
Thaler told CUToday.info the retail industry ranges from the big box stores to convenience stores to gas stations, meaning they have more entities reaching out to Congress.
“We remain in a good spot on it in terms of having lawmakers wary of the new legislation, but without credit unions and other FIs hammering home that message there is a chance” the retailers prevail, he said.
Community Reinvestment Act
There has also been new attention in Washington to reviewing the Community Reinvestment Act and banks, with some worried that effort will drag in credit unions, too, something the banking industry has often demanded.
“There has not been any appetite to do that in Congress,” said Thaler. “Credit unions want to do more to help underserved areas. And banks have been pushing back against that. The underserved areas bill advanced in the House and would have allowed credit unions to do more to help out. Credit unions have also been very active as CDFIs and MDIs.”
Thaler reminded the CRA rules were created in response to redlining by banks, something credit unions have not done.