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NAFCU, lawmakers discuss strengthening the credit union industry
NAFCU president and CEO Dan Berger Wednesday met with Representatives Tom Emmer, R-Minn., to discuss ways to champion credit unions and their 130 million members. Of note, Emmer was recently awarded the NAFCU Credit Union Champion award in recognition of his leadership and dedication supporting important credit union industry issues. NAFCU Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Greg Mesack, Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler, and Associate Director of Legislative Affairs Lewis Plush, and Associate Director Janelle Relfe were also in attendance.
Emmer, who also serves as the Chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, coordinating efforts for House Republicans in the 2022 midterm elections, introduced the NAFCU-supported Credit Union Governance Modernization Act (CUGMA) to streamline member expulsion processes in 2020.
He later reintroduced the legislation in 2021, assembling a bipartisan group of lawmakers including Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., to improve existing language in the Federal Credit Union Act related to expulsion in order to protect credit unions, members, and employees. Emmer and his colleague’s hard fought efforts eventually led to the bill’s inclusion in the fiscal year 2022 omnibus spending package, which was signed into law earlier this year.
Berger, Thaler and Associate Director of Legislative Affairs Janelle Relfe also met with Representative Adrian Smith, R-Neb., to thank him for his longstanding support of credit unions and to discuss the outlook for the industry, as well as how credit unions are helping meet the needs of those in rural Nebraska.
Emmer, Smith and more than 200 lawmakers last year also successfully led efforts to oppose the proposal to increase the IRS reporting requirement threshold from $600 to $10,000 or higher. NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger stated that the threshold increase was “nothing more than window dressing in an attempt to shore up support for a flawed proposal,” urging Treasury and the IRS to instead “focus its attention on the data it already has to increase tax compliance.”
NAFCU continues to work with Reps. Emmer and Smith and other lawmakers to ensure credit union priorities remain top of mind for Congress.