WASHINGTON—A bipartisan group of 71 House members is urging leaders of the House Appropriations Committee to provide full funding for the Treasury Department's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund program in its fiscal year 2018 appropriations package.
The CDFI funding is targeted for cutting in a Trump Administration budget.
"As you know, the CDFI Fund's mission is to expand the capacity of CDFIs to provide credit, capital, and financial services to underserved populations and communities across the country," the lawmakers wrote, according to a NAFCU report. "CDFIs fill a market gap left by insufficient lending from traditional financial institutions, such as commercial banks."
The lawmakers urged the leaders of the House Appropriations Committee and the Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services to fund the program at the level approved in the 2017 House bill, NAFCU noted.
NAFCU recently touted the importance of the relationship between credit unions and the CDFI program in a letter to House and Senate leaders. NAFCU emphasized that CDFI-certified credit unions represent 27% of the total number of certified institutions and hold more than 50% of total CDFI assets.
The preliminary Trump administration budget proposed cutting the CDFI Fund program as part of a 4% cut to the Treasury Department's budget. The budget would also cut the Small Business Administration budget by 5% and the Department of Housing and Urban Development budget by 13%.
As CUToday.info reported here, some well-known names in CUs are also backing a lobbying initiative aimed at ensuring the funding continues.