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In a letter sent Monday, NAFCU's Brad Thaler outlined credit union priorities for the House and Senate as they consider an end-of-year government funding package and conclude legislative work for the 117th Congress. 

Thaler, NAFCU’s vice president of legislative affairs, expressed strong opposition against any effort to expand NCUA examination authority over credit union third-party vendors. The association has advocated fiercely against these efforts, noting that although NAFCU believes in a strong NCUA, the association also believes that the agency “should stay focused on where its expertise lies—regulating credit unions.”

Thaler also reiterated opposition to any extension of debit interchange routing requirements to credit cards, as proposed in the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA).

“This change would function as a backdoor price control on credit card transactions and would affect financial institutions of all sizes, regardless of the proposed exemption, and could greatly increase fraud costs as merchants select cheaper but less secure networks to process transactions,” wrote Thaler.

NAFCU will continue to set the record straight on interchange; credit unions can continue to use NAFCU’s Grassroots Action Center to speak out against the CCCA by sending a message to their lawmakers requesting them to oppose the harmful legislation.

In addition, Thaler offered support for passage of the bipartisan, NAFCU-backed Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act. In a recent op-ed for CUInsight, NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger urged lawmakers to pass the bill, as it has “broad bipartisan, industry, and public support” and would end the year with a “commonsense win.”

Thaler also offered support for:

• H.R. 3958, the Central Liquidity Facility Enhancement Act, and S. 5183 that would make improvements to the Central Liquidity Facility (CLF);
• H.R. 6889., the Credit Union Board Modernization Act; and
• greater transparency from the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund.

Read Thaler’s full letter. Funding for the government is set to expire this Friday, Dec. 16; NAFCU will monitor congressional movement and update credit unions on the status of funding via NAFCU Today.