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NAFCU's Dan Berger, in an open letter to Congress published in Credit Union Times on Thursday, voiced the association's desire to work in a bipartisan manner to advance critical issues important to credit unions and American consumers.

"To both new and seasoned members of Congress, we look forward to working alongside you to advance good bipartisan policy," wrote Berger, NAFCU's president and CEO. "Most importantly, we look forward to fostering an open dialogue, one that is respectful, supportive and cooperative."

Berger went on to note that "it is important we ensure the existence of a legislative and regulatory environment that allows credit unions the opportunity to grow, thrive and successfully serve their membership."

Earlier this month, NAFCU announced its 2019 advocacy priorities which Berger reiterated in the open letter. They include:

• Growth: supporting legislation and regulation that helps credit unions grow membership, loans and revenue.
• Strong NCUA: pressing for NCUA to be the sole industry regulator, including by exempting credit unions from Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection oversight, and fostering strong relationships with NCUA board members to ensure credit unions' voices and concerns are heard.
• Transparency: encouraging government accountability, including reducing NCUA's overall operating budget, reforming the bureau structure and getting additional National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF) distributions for credit unions.
• Regulatory relief: fighting for clear, streamlined regulation that allows credit unions to put more resources toward serving members.
• Tax exemption: preserving the credit union tax exemption to save U.S. consumers $16 billion annually, protect nearly 1 million jobs, and keep the focus on members, not profits.
• Fair and innovative market: pushing back against big banks, promoting innovation, and creating national data and cybersecurity standards.

For the full letter to Congress, click here.