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Following last night's State of the Union Address from President Donald Trump, NAFCU continues to call on Congress and the administration to find bipartisan legislative solutions to critical credit union issues, including housing finance reform and a national data security standard.

Last year, several NAFCU-member credit union CEOs met with Trump at the White House to discuss industry issues. That meeting helped secure the president's support of S. 2155 – the largest regulatory relief package enacted in a decade.

Recently, NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger, in an open letter to Congress, outlined NAFCU's 2019 advocacy priorities and noted 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."

Many of NAFCU's and credit unions' priorities are included on the House Financial Services and Senate Banking Committees' agendas. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, has indicated that "data privacy and data security legislation will remain a priority in the 116th Congress."

NAFCU has long been active with lawmakers on this issue, and was the first group after the massive 2013 Target data breach to call for a legislative solution to reform the nation's data security system. In addition to sharing its data security principles with the Senate Banking Committee, the association has urged the House Financial Services Committee to address data security issues to ensure consumers are protected.

On housing finance reform, the White House has indicated it would work with Congress to reform the nation's housing finance system and GSEs. Crapo has also released an outline of his proposal to overhaul the nation's housing finance system, which includes some provisions that align with NAFCU's position on reform. 

NAFCU has urged the Trump administration and Congress to work together on a comprehensive solution to housing finance reform, and has argued that the continued conservatorship of the GSEs is unsustainable. 

As the credit union industry's Washington Watchdog, NAFCU will continue to work across the aisle and with key decision makers to obtain a regulatory environment in which growth is the priority. In addition to growth, other priorities include maintaining a strong NCUA, promoting transparency, attaining regulatory relief, preserving the credit union tax exemption and establishing a fair and innovative market.