WASHINGTON – The powerful banking lobby was urging Senate leaders last night to reject a final effort to bring the member business loan bill to a vote, as 500 credit union executives and allies were massing on Capitol Hill for a final lobbying blitz on the MBL measure today and tomorrow.
More than 60 banking groups purporting to represent 7,000 community banks called on Senate leaders yesterday to withhold a proposed vote on the long-sought bill that would raise the MBL limit for credit unions. “This highly controversial legislation has never been considered before the authorized committee and should not be brought up on the Senate floor in the waning days of this legislative session,” the bankers wrote in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
The bankers have also presented 13,000 signatures on a petition urging Congress to reject the MBL bill and taken out ads in Capitol Hill media opposing the legislation.
The bankers’ move came as CUNA was telling participants from 45 states in one final “Hike the Hill” lobbying pilgrimage that the Senate leaders told them they planned to finally bring the bill to a vote, probably next week. The vote represents one last chance for credit unions to get the bill passed this Congress, the fifth Congress in a row it has languished.
But even if the Senate does agree to vote the bill, the measure would still have a long way to go in the final days of the so-called lame duck session of Congress because it would still need to be voted by the House.
The bankers told the Senate leaders they oppose any effort to attach the credit union bill, which would raise the MBL cap to 27.5% of assets from the current 12.25%, to a banking bill that would extend the government guarantee of interest on non-interest bearing checking accounts, enacted during the financial crisis. “Any attempts to merge this permanent power grab legislation with a temporary extension of the current Transaction Account Guarantee program or any other banking legislation will be strongly opposed by the banking industry,” the bankers told the Senate leaders.
