Newsroom

The Senate Thursday passed its version of the fiscal year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Unlike its House-passed counterpart, the Senate did not add a NAFCU-sought amendment to make reforms to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)/anti-money laundering (AML) regime and kept a credit union-opposed provision related to nominal leases on military bases included in the bill.

NAFCU has consistently advocated against the bank-sought provision in the NDAA that would require the Department of Defense to treat all banks, including large ones like Wells Fargo, the same as a military installation's local not-for-profit defense credit union when it comes to rent on military bases. This provision was also included in the Senate's NDAA last year, but NAFCU successfully kept it from being included in a final version of the bill last year after the two chambers hashed out disparities in a conference committee.

NAFCU's advocacy on this issue begins early each year – prior to the Senate Armed Services Committee and House Armed Services Committee markups of their respective bills – to keep credit unions' concerns top of mind and also encourages credit unions to use the association's Grassroots Action Center to send messages directly to lawmakers.

The association has also partnered with the Defense Credit Union Council (DCUC) and CUNA to voice credit unions' opposition against the inclusion of this provision. 

In addition to continuing to advocate against the nominal lease provision as the FY2021 NDAA eventually moves to a conference committee, NAFCU will also continue to call for the inclusion of BSA/AML reforms. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and Ranking Member Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, in June unveiled the bipartisan Anti-Money Laundering Act with the intention of it being added as an amendment to the NDAA, and the House-passed NDAA includes other BSA/AML reforms.

Stay tuned to NAFCU Today for the latest status updates on the NDAA.