WASHINGTON—Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) have written to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen with concerns the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund is not considering stakeholder feedback as they update the fund’s application process.
The senators, who co-chair the Senate Community Development Finance Caucus (CDFC), urged the Treasury Department to “consider all comments received” on the topic of the CDFI application and Annual Data Certification and Data Collection Report.
The CDFI Fund has proposed changes to the CDFI certification standards that would implement a one-year effective date.
NAFCU noted it has expressed concerns that period would not be long enough for CDFIs to come into compliance with the new standards.
In their letter, Warner and Crapo also questioned why the fund is using guidelines from the Paperwork Reduction Act instead of the Administrative Procedures Act to update the application. They also requested a response to their letter from Yellen.
The CDFI Fund is currently in a six-month blackout period, which began Oct. 1, 2022, and is not accepting new applications in an effort to update its application process, as CUToday.info has reported.