Community Development Bank Funds Cut by Panel; NCUA in Senate Plea

WASHINGTON - The House Appropriations Committee last week cut the funding for President Clinton's community development bank program.

Lawmakers voted Thursday to axe the $125 million that had been budgeted last year for the program.

"The decision by the House appropriators to cut out funding is, in my view, remarkably short-sighted," Deputy Secretary Treasury Frank N. Newman said.

Separately, National Credit Union Administration Chairman Norman E. D'Amours asked a Senate Appropriations subcommittee to approve $2 million for his agency's Community Development Revolving Loan Program. The program offers loans and technical assistance grants to low-income credit unions.

"This is money that gets into the inner city and gets to people that don't have access to traditional liquidity sources," Mr. D'Amours said. "It's money that gets into the self-empowering idea that both parties . . . subscribe to."

The NCUA request may be jeopardized by the House panel's vote to strip funding from the Community Development Financial Institutions law, which authorized $10 million for the credit union program over four years.

However, Sen. Robert F. Bennett, R-Utah, said he has no objection to the appropriation request.

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