Senate begins debate on relief package; NAFCU reiterates call to include CU tools
Ahead of the Senate’s consideration of the American Rescue Plan Act, NAFCU Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler reiterated NAFCU’s call for several tools and flexibilities that will allow credit unions to continue to support their members and communities amid the coronavirus pandemic and beyond.
The House Saturday passed the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, which includes some NAFCU-supported provisions to help small businesses survive and recover from the pandemic and provide assistance to homeowners and renters.
In the letter, sent Tuesday, Thaler highlighted several ways in which credit unions have stepped up to help their communities amid the crisis and again reiterated additional measures to support these efforts, including:
This week: COVID relief package moves to Senate
cuinsight.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cuinsight.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
NAFCU reiterates necessary CU tools as House considers COVID relief package
cuinsight.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cuinsight.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Congress nears COVID relief deal
In addition, the deal would likely provide $2 billion in emergency funding for Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund and another round of economic impact payments for consumers.
NAFCU Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler sent a message to association members Wednesday urging their help in securing these industry-supported provisions. Credit unions are encouraged to use NAFCU’s Grassroots Action Center to send messages directly to lawmakers on these issues.
Lawmakers are working to finalize the relief provisions so that they could be attached to the federal government funding omnibus bill. Current funding is set to expire at midnight Friday; legislation needs to be passed by both the House and Senate and signed by the president before the deadline to prevent a government shutdown.
Several representatives from NAFCU-member credit unions Wednesday joined members of the association’s advocacy team for a videoconference meeting with Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. The group thanked Brown for his work with committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, on reforms to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)/anti-money laundering (AML) regime, leading the way for its inclusion in the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and discussed a number of industry issues.
NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger, Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler, and Associate Director of Legislative Affairs Sarah Jacobs attended the meeting, alongside leadership from Ohio-based credit unions, including: