Democrats call for stronger CRA, but don’t push expanding it to CUs

Congressional Democrats are calling for federal banking regulators to stiffen rules governing the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), but they are not pushing for the legislative changes that would make credit unions subject to the law.

Some 19 Democratic senators and more than 75 House Democrats signed letters saying that the OCC, the FDIC and the Federal Reserve should do more to push banks to invest in their communities.

Background

Enacted in 1977, the CRA requires banking regulators to conduct tests to measure how well banks are meeting the needs of their communities—including low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities. Regulators issued updated rules for the CRA in May.

In commenting on these rules, the American Bankers Association, its state affiliates and the Independent Community Bankers Association have called on Congress to expand the CRA to include banks.

 

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