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NAFCU letter to House Small Business Committee ahead of today’s mark-up on legislation to help facilitate more small business lending to veterans

(June 10, 2015) —

The Honorable Steve Chabot
Chairman
House Small Business Committee
2361 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable Nydia Velázquez
Ranking Member
House Small Business Committee
2361 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Re: Small Business Lending and our Nation’s Veterans

Dear Chairman Chabot and Ranking Member Velázquez:

On behalf of the National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU), the only trade association exclusively representing our nation’s federally chartered credit unions, I write in advance of tomorrow’s mark-up of legislative efforts to aid our nation’s small business owners in accessing capital and creating jobs.

In particular, NAFCU would like to express our support for Chairman Chabot’s, Veterans Entrepreneurship Act of 2015 (H.R. 2499) that would amend the Small Business Act to waive the guarantee fee for veterans seeking to access capital through the Small Business Administration’s  Express Loan program. This legislation is consistent with NAFCU’s view that assisting our nation’s military veterans in small business endeavors should be a priority.

In that regard, we would also like to bring the attention of the committee to legislation (H.R. 1133) introduced by Representative Jeff Miller (R-FL), Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, that would exclude loans made to veterans from the statutory credit union member business lending cap. As Congress continues to look for ways to support our military personnel and create jobs, we hope this budget neutral bipartisan legislation is considered. We would urge committee members to support efforts to advance this legislation.    

Again, thank you for holding this important mark-up.  We look forward to continuing to work with the committee in helping our veteran’s access capital. If my staff or I can be of assistance to you, or if you have any questions regarding this issue, please feel free to contact myself, or NAFCU’s Director of Legislative Affairs, Jillian Pevo, at (703) 842-2836.

Sincerely,

Brad Thaler
Vice President of Legislative Affairs

cc: Members of the House Small Business Committee

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