WASHINGTON – Five weeks after being promised a Senate version of CURIA–the CU Regulatory Improvements Act–the credit union lobby still is waiting for the bill, as a second shoe to drop.
That shoe would be worn by a Senate Republican, indicating bipartisan support for the key credit union bill, which is holding up introduction of the measure in the upper chamber, credit union lobbyists told The Credit Union Journal.
The introduction of the bill in the Senate was hailed at CUNA’s Governmental Affairs Conference last month, when Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu told more than 4,000 credit union executives and directors she and her Democratic cohort, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, would be introducing CURIA in the Senate, giving it a big boost. However, five weeks later, the bill has yet to be introduced because the two Democrats still are looking for a Republican to sign on, the lobbyists said.
Meantime, there is little sign that the House Financial Services Committee, which is consumed with proposals aimed at alleviating the mortgage crisis, is planning to hold a drafting session, or mark-up, on CURIA. The committee held its first hearing on the credit union bill the week of the GAC, but has shown little indication that a mark-up is imminent.
