WASHINGTON, DC (June 8, 2016) — National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) Vice President of Legislative Affairs issued the following statement today in response to the House Appropriations Committee’s release of its draft report language for the financial services and general government appropriations bill. It includes NAFCU-sought provisions seeking greater CFPB exemptions for small institutions and relief for financial institutions from the FCC’s order on robocalls under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
“We thank subcommittee Chairman Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla., and full committee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., for adding these NAFCU-sought provisions to the report accompanying the bill, and we look forward to working with lawmakers on these necessary reforms,” said Thaler. “While it doesn’t change the law, including this language in the accompanying report is a signal to regulators that Congress is interested in these issues and wants them to be addressed.” The report language is in addition to the legislative language included in the bill to change the CFPB’s funding and structure.
The appropriations bill would fund the Treasury Department, the Federal Communications Commission, the Small Business Administration and other related agencies.
Included in the draft report language that accompanies the bill is a NAFCU-sought provision that would require the CFPB to report to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee on how the bureau has used its authority under Section 1022 of the Dodd-Frank Act to exempt “any class” of entity from individual rulemakings. The bureau would also need to address any plans to revisit past exemptions and how it plans to use this power moving forward.
NAFCU was the only credit union trade association to oppose subjecting credit unions to CFPB authority under Dodd-Frank. The association maintains that CFPB has and should be using its authority to exempt credit unions from regulations aimed at bad actors.
The committee report also “strongly encourages” the FCC to revisit its recent order on the TCPA to address questions and issues raised by financial institutions and calls for the FCC to “provide more flexibility to the prescriptive requirements for financial institutions” using the exemption for “free end user calls.”
The appropriations bill also includes a NAFCU-backed provision that would bring CFPB’s funding under the congressional appropriations process. The legislation also includes a NAFCU-sought change to the leadership structure of the bureau from a single director to a five-member commission.
The full House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to mark-up the bill at 10 a.m. Eastern tomorrow.
The National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions is the only national trade association focusing exclusively on federal issues affecting the nation’s federally-insured credit unions. NAFCU membership is direct and provides credit unions with the best in federal advocacy, education and compliance assistance. For more information on NAFCU, go to www.nafcu.org or @NAFCU on Twitter.
