WASHINGTON – Credit union lobbyists are watching closely for extraneous amendments as the Senate moves towards debate on the landmark financial services bill today, which nominally has little major impact for credit unions.
“NAFCU was on Capitol Hill over the weekend being vigilant,” said Fred Becker, president of the lobby group, referring to potential moves to add certain amendments to the bill that would have adverse impacts on credit unions. Among them are a bid that would allow the Federal Reserve to regulate credit/debit card interchange fees and the continuing threat on so-called mortgage cramdowns.
Senators are expected to proposed dozens of amendments to the controversial bill that would create a consumer financial protection agency, set up a systemic risk regulator for huge financial institutions and regulate financial derivatives for the first time.
The credit union lobby so far has succeeded in getting all but the three largest credit unions – those with more than $10 billion in assets – exempt from examination from the proposed consumer agency. It also has convinced Congress to exempt all credit unions from contributing to a proposed fund that would wind down huge financial failures, leaving little of impact on credit unions by the bill.
But CUNA lobbyists last week said the massive bill – it had more than 1,300 pages at last count – leaves plenty of room for various interests to push for their own amendments and they expect the merchants payments coalition to lobby for the interchange provision. “We’re keeping a close watch,” John Magill, chief lobbyist for CUNA, told Credit Union Journal.
Republican senators continued to oppose the bill en masse last week, leaving open the potential they could try to block by a filibuster, which would require 60 votes to overcome and proceed with debate. Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is hoping to convince at least one of the chamber’s 41 Republicans to vote for a debate, in order to overcome the filibuster threat.
The Republicans say they are opposed to the bill’s main feature, the so-called too-big-to-fail provisions, which would create a $50 fund from assessments on the biggest banks that would be used to wind down big financial firm failures in order to avoid a taxpayer bailout. Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said the fund would be akin to a guarantee of a government bailout when a financial firm gets in trouble. “That’s what this debate is all about,” he said.
