Newsroom

As the House and Senate Wednesday named members to represent the chambers in discussions to reconcile differences in the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), NAFCU's award-winning advocacy team continues its push to ensure a provision that would require the Department of Defense (DoD) to treat big banks the same as credit unions when it comes to nominal leases on military bases is not included in the final bill.

"Credit unions are committed to providing military members, veterans and their families with safe, affordable financial products and services and they have consistently demonstrated this," said NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger. "Banks, on the other hand, are constantly seeking to drive their profits higher and have well-documented consumer abuses.

"That's why the Department of Defense offers rent to credit unions on military bases at a nominal rate, and why Congress has for years denied bankers' request to operate rent-free on military bases. NAFCU will continue to partner with the Defense Credit Union Council to advocate against this provision in the final 2021 NDAA and protect credit unions' strong relationship with the military."

NAFCU, DCUC, and CUNA Wednesday sent a letter to the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees reiterating the industry’s opposition to the banker-sought provision. 

“Our organizations recognize the important role both credit unions and banks can play for our men and women in the military in the provision of traditional financial services and in protecting our troops from predatory lenders. However, we remain concerned that this effort in the FY2021 NDAA to tie the fate of banks on the lease issue to credit unions could ultimately disadvantage credit unions and the men and women of our nation’s armed forces that they serve.”

NAFCU is proud to continue to collaborate and coordinate with DCUC and CUNA on this important issue and will continue to work with the conference committee members as discussions to reconcile the chambers’ bills get underway to ensure credit unions’ concerns are addressed. 

In September, a bipartisan group of 51 representatives, led by Reps. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., John Garamendi, D-Calif., and Paul Cook, R-Calif., sent a letter to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees’ leaders urging rejection of the NAFCU-opposed provision included in the Senate's 2021 NDAA. No such provision in included in the House-passed version of the NDAA.

Credit unions are encouraged to use NAFCU’s Grassroots Action Center to send messages directly to lawmakers and join the association’s advocacy efforts.

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 after the two chambers hashed out disparities in a conference committee.

Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee will serve on the conference committee. Representatives who will serve on the conference committee are listed below. Stay tuned to NAFCU Today for the latest status updates on the FY2021 NDAA.

• House Armed Services Committee Chair Adam Smith, D-Wash.;
• House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Mac Thornberry, R-Texas.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Susan Davis, D-Calif.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member James Langevin, D-R.I.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Rick Larsen, D-Wash.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Jim Cooper, D-Tenn.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Joe Courtney, D-Conn.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member John Garamendi, D-Calif.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Jackie Speier, D-Calif.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Donald Norcross, D-N.J.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Seth Moulton, D-Mass.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Salud Carbajal, D-Calif.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Anthony Brown, D-Md.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Ro Khanna, D-Calif.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member William Keating, D-Mass.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Filemon Vela, D-Texas;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Andy Kim, D-N.J.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Kendra Horn, D-Okla.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Gil Cisneros, D-Calif.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Joe Wilson, R-S.C.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Mike Turner, R-Ohio;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Mike Rogers, R-Ala.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Doug Lamborn, R-Colo.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Rob Wittman, R-Va.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Austin Scott, R-Ga.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Trent Kelly, R-Miss.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Mike Gallagher, R-Wis.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Don Bacon, R-Neb.;
• House Armed Services Committee Member Jim Banks, R-Ind.;
• House Agriculture Committee Chair Collin Peterson, D-Minn.;
• House Agriculture Committee Member Abigail Spanberger, D-Va.;
• House Agriculture Committee Member Mike Conaway, R-Texas;
• House Budget Committee Member Joseph Morelle, D-N.Y.;
• House Budget Committee Member Steven Horsford, D-Nev.;
• House Budget Committee Member Chris Stewart, R-Utah;
• House Education and Labor Committee Chair Bobby Scott, D-Va.;
• House Education and Labor Committee Member Lori Trahan, D-Mass.;
• House Education and Labor Committee Member Brett Guthrie, R-Ky.;
• House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Frank Pallone, D-N.J.;
• House Energy and Commerce Committee Member Diana DeGette, D-Colo.;
• House Energy and Commerce Committee Member Greg Walden, R-Ore.;
• House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters, D-Calif.;
• House Financial Services Committee Member Juan Vargas, D-Calif.;
• House Financial Services Committee Member Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo.;
• House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Eliot Engel, D-N.Y.;
• House Foreign Affairs Committee Member Brad Sherman, D-Calif.;
• House Foreign Affairs Committee Member Michael McCaul, R-Texas;
• House Homeland Security Committee Member Xochitl Torres Small, D-N.M.;
• House Homeland Security Committee Member Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich.;
• House Homeland Security Committee Member Mark Green, R-Tenn.;
• House Administration Committee Chair Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.;
• House Administration Committee Member Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio;
• House Administration Committee Member Rodney Davis, R-Ill.;
• House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff, D-Calif.;
• House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Member Terri Sewell, D-Ala.;
• House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Member Devin Nunes, R-Calif.;
• House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y.;
• House Judiciary Committee Member Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, D-Fla.;
• House Judiciary Committee Member Greg Steube, R-Fla.;
• House Natural Resources Committee Chair Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz.;
• House Natural Resources Committee Member Deb Haaland, D-N.M.;
• House Natural Resources Committee Member Rob Bishop, R-Utah;
• House Oversight and Reform Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y.;
• House Oversight and Reform Committee Member Stephen Lynch, D-Mass.;
• House Oversight and Reform Committee Member James Comer, R-Ky.;
• House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas;
• House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Member Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J.;
• House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Member Mike Garcia, R-Calif.;
• House Small Business Committee Chair Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y.;
• House Small Business Committee Member Jared Golden, D-Maine;
• House Small Business Committee Member Steve Chabot, R-Ohio;
• House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Member Jared Huffman, D-Calif.;
• House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Member Harley Rouda, D-Calif.;
• House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Member Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio;
• House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chair Mark Takano, D-Calif.;
• House Veterans' Affairs Committee Member Conor Lamb, D-Pa.;
• House Veterans' Affairs Committee Member Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla.;
• House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal, D-Mass.;
• House Ways and Means Committee Member Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif.; and
• House Ways and Means Committee Member Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio.