Advocating for credit union policies prior to committee markup
The House Financial Services Committee begins its markup today that includes several bills of interest to credit unions. In advance of the committee markup, America’s Credit Unions sent a letter in support of those bills. The committee is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Eastern today and scheduled to continue through Wednesday.
Bills of interest that America’s Credit Unions supports includes:
- The Housing for the 21st Century Act (H.R. 6644), which would update statutory loan limits for Federal Housing Administration mortgage insurance for multifamily projects, reform and improve the HOME Program, and Rural Housing Service;
- The NFIP Extension Act of 2026 (H.R. 5577): which would provide a clean one-year extension of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP);
- The Regulatory Efficiency, Verification, Itemization, and Enhanced Workflow (REVIEW) Act (H.R. 6544), which would include all Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council regulators, including the NCUA, in the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act (EGRPRA) review process and shortening the process to seven years (from the current 10); and
- The New Bank Application Numbers Knowledge (New BANK) Act (H.R. 6551), Merger Agreement Approvals Clarity and Predictability Act (H.R. 6570), and Merger Process Review Act (H.R. 6546), which cover the NCUA and credit unions as part of their reviews.
The letter also encourages the committee to further explore legislation that would:
- Make it easier for credit unions to join a Federal Home Loan Bank by amending the Community Financial Institution definition and raise its statutory threshold to $10 billion in assets (from the current $1 billion in assets);
- Extend the loan maturity limit for credit unions by advancing the Expanding Access to Lending Options Act (H.R. 4167);
- Expand options for federal credit union investments, including in corporate debt and asset-backed securities;
- Increase the ability of credit unions to meet small business needs by raising the threshold to be considered a small business loan to $100,000, as proposed in the bipartisan Increasing Credit Union Lending for Business Growth Act (H.R. 1791), and exempt loans to veteran-owned small businesses from the MBL cap as proposed in the Veterans Member Business Loan Act (H.R. 507).