Congressional Restructuring to Impact Some NCUA Spending

WASHINGTON - Congress was in the process of a restructuring last week that included the addition of two new subcommittees to the key House Appropriations Committee, part of a renewed effort to control spending.

A new financial services panel will review certain spending requests for NCUA, including an annual expenditure for the Community Development Revolving Loan Fund, usually around $1 million, and the authority for the emergency loan fund, the Central Liquidity Facility, to borrow from the U.S. Treasury, in case of emergency, currently set at $1.5 billion.

The panel will also review so-called earmarks, special spending requests that have proliferated in recent years, and have provided millions of dollars in funds for international credit union development projects overseen by the World Council of CUs.

The restructuring of the committee is aimed at bringing more public scrutiny to many of the spending practices of Congress that have been increasingly conducted behind closed doors-often in the early morning hours.