National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU) Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler yesterday wrote to Senate subcommittee leaders urging the committee to include many NAFCU-sought regulatory relief and funding provisions found in a House-passed bill – including funding for the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund and reforms for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) – in the panel's fiscal 2018 spending bill.
"H.R. 3354 included many provisions that would provide needed regulatory relief to credit unions, and we would encourage you to include these in the Senate package," wrote Thaler in a letter to Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government Chairman Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Ranking Member Chris Coons, D-Del.
The spending package that passed the House earlier this month, H.R. 3354, also includes a NAFCU-supported measure that would remove the CFPB's authority to regulate for unfair, deceptive and abusive acts or practices (UDAAP) and would wrap the CFPB into the congressional appropriations process.
The bill repeals the bureau's abilities to write arbitration rules and to require the collection and reporting of small-business data. It would also provide qualified mortgage relief to certain mortgage loans held in portfolio. The bill includes NAFCU-sought funding for the NCUA Community Development Revolving Loan Fund as well.
In the letter, Thaler also outlined some areas that NAFCU and its members would like improved from the House-passed version of the bill, such as more funding for the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.