By Ray Birch
Editor’s Note: 2017 marks the 20-year anniversary of a two-year battle in Congress to get the Credit Union Membership Act not just introduced, but passed. It was a historic fight that led to a historic change for America’s credit unions, which were deeply threatened by banker lawsuits and court decisions that had gone against FCUs and how NCUA had interpreted field of membership rules.
To mark the 20th anniversary, CUToday.info has launched a series of stories in which those close to that fight share their recollections of the time and their insights into how it changed credit unions.
WASHINGTON—Carl Parks recalls sitting in the office of Trent Lott at the time credit unions were working to rally thousands of supporters to Washington in 1998 to show Congress the big numbers backing HR 1151.
“As we were rallying, a credit union leader from Biloxi, Mississippi, and I were in Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott’s (R-MS) office and he opened the doors and we sat on the balcony. You could hear the crowd, see the thousands of people and feel the power of the credit union grassroots movement,” said Parks, who was a key lobbyist for CUNA at the time, serving as SVP of government affairs.
Today, Parks is retired after a 40-year political affairs career, leaving CUNA near 2009.
“At the end of that meeting and the end of that rally, Lott announced to us in the room he would bring the bill to the Senate floor,” said Parks.
What the move illustrated, recalled Parks, is that Republican members of Congress, who had largely backed the banks over the years, had to make tough, personal decisions. They had to either choose to side with the banks who were fighting against HR 1151 and keep their campaign funding intact, or side with credit unions, which were demonstrating they carried a lot of votes in their pockets.
Amassing Thousands
Parks said that amassing thousands of people in Washington for that rally to show the Senate just how much support was behind HR 1151 was one of the most critical moves in the Credit Union Campaign For Consumer Choice, what CUNA, NAFCU and the leagues called their joint effort to pass the CU Membership Access Act.
“We did not have much trouble getting the bill out of the Senate Banking Committee,” said Parks. “The trouble was getting the bill to the Senate floor for a vote. Getting the bill onto the floor–that effort dragged on for weeks and weeks, with credit unions being told that the bill would reach the floor. So, finally, we decided to mount that big rally to show how much support was behind the bill. We flew people in from all over the country. Congress realized they could not ignore us anymore.”
Parks remembers that Senate Banking Committee Chairman Alfonse D'Amato (D-NY) was conflicted about choosing between banks and credit unions, but said something to Parks that was very “telling” about a positive outcome for HR 1151.
“I’ll never forget him saying that as a senator he is elected for six years. ‘For the first four years I am a banker guy, because that is where my fundraising comes from. And in my election cycle, my last two years, I am a credit union guy, because that is where my votes come from.’”
Parks said that credit unions had much more difficulty getting the bill out of what was then known as the House Banking Committee, due largely to the fact CUs could not swing enough Republicans to vote in favor of the bill to join the Democrats who supported HR 1151.
Key Roadblock
Parks said that a key roadblock were the freshman Republican reps who were afraid that being newly elected and siding against the banks would endanger their banker-backed campaign funding and therefore their re-election chances.
“There were several Republican freshmen on the Banking Committee and most of them were problems,” said Parks. “They were tough sells on this. The banks were a powerful force in Congress–for almost every Republican member of Congress, their finance committee leaders were bankers. These are the people who raised money for them. That is one of the biggest things we had to overcome.”
One of those House Republican freshmen was Bob Riley, from Alabama.
“Bob was on the fence and he was a critical vote in the House Banking Committee,” said Parks. “Bob was a classic example of our key problem. For two days I sat in his office and we literally held hands, he was so nervous about this vote. We said, ‘Don’t worry we will take care of you, we have people in your district who will work for you to make sure you are re-elected.’ Bob’s staff was on my side, they understood grassroots and that this was a good thing.”
But as credit union lobbyists worked tirelessly to swing Republican votes, what ultimately may have made the difference was an hour-and-a-half break the Banking Committee took before making their final vote.
Issues surrounded HR 1151, complicating its passage, as Congress added more than 20 pages to what started as a three-page bill. One of the biggest challenges to the bill’s future was an attempt by the House to connect HR 10, the Financial Services Reform Bill, to HR 1151, which many CU backers at the time thought would kill the CU Membership Access Act.
Push For Recess
With HR 1151 set for a vote, and issues complicating the bill, Parks said that a few key members of the House pushed for a short recess.
“They made a Parliamentary maneuver to close down the hearing and force everyone to go back to the chamber,” said Parks. “That gave us the opportunity to lobby a bunch of Republicans, and it made all the difference.”
What is often forgotten is the bill ended up passing out of the House Banking Committee by a slim one vote, before it went on to pass the House in April by a landslide 411-8 vote, and then on to the Senate later in the year, where it also passed by a wide 92-6 vote.
Credit unions’ landslide wins indicated Congress took note of CUs’ massive grassroots support.
“We had a lot going for us in the fight for passage of the Credit Union Membership Access Act,” recalled Parks. “We had the Grassroots support and a well-coordinated and strong campaign. And I think the banks were not very wise in how to run a campaign. We had those advantages, I believe, but we also had to pick the right people and put them in the right places, and make the right decisions—which we did. That is how we won against the banks who had so much political power.”
Parks, as have many who were involved in the Credit Union Campaign For Consumer Choice have stated, believes bankers underestimated credit unions.
“The bankers woke a sleeping giant,” said Parks. “One of the best comments I heard after the fate of HR 1151 was positively decided, is that credit unions were not going to go back under a rock. And we have not.”