Nussle urges Congress, Treasury to fund CDFI program
In support of the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) program, America’s Credit Unions President/CEO Jim Nussle urged both the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to reject the Administration’s FY2026 budget request to eliminate CDFI program funding.
The letter, sent ahead of the subcommittee’s hearing with Bessent, urged them to reject the Administration’s request and continue funding the CDFI Fund “at a minimum of at least its FY2025 funding level of $324 million for FY2026.”
“The Fund’s ability to harness both public and private resources has been instrumental in driving substantial economic development in distressed areas, and its impact is evident in the robust performance of the financial institutions it supports,” wrote Nussle. “We urge the Subcommittee to use this oversight hearing with the Treasury Secretary to advocate for the importance of the CDFI Fund and to secure the Treasury Department’s commitment to using any funding appropriated to the Fund for FY2026.”
Nussle also asked the subcommittee to preserve funding for the Community Development Revolving Loan Fund (CDRLF), a NCUA-issued program that provides revolving loan and technical assistance grants to low-income credit unions.
Nussle reiterated the importance of maintaining an independent NCUA, telling the subcommittee: “Given the unique not-for-profit cooperative structure and member focus of credit unions, it is important that the industry have a regulator that has a special understanding of credit unions.”
He reinforced America’s Credit Unions’ support for the “current regulatory structure of an independent NCUA run by a three-person bipartisan board as the primary federal regulator for credit unions.” While there has not been a proposal to change this structure, Nussle argued that the Subcommittee’s oversight of the Treasury Department “must ensure that the Department will continue to support this structure.”
America’s Credit Unions sent an additional letter Tuesday directly to Bessent in support of fully funding the CDFI Fund.