WASHINGTON – The House voted passage yesterday of a spending bill that includes an extension of the $41 billion funding limit for the emergency credit union loan fund, the Central Liquidity Facility, and sent the measure on for likely approval by the Senate.
Without Congressional action the funding for the CLF would have reverted back to $1.5 billion, where it stood for more than a decade, until Congress raised it on an emergency basis last September. The new bill will extend the emergency funding to the September 30 end of the current fiscal year.
The funding for the CLF is critical for credit unions because the emergency loan fund has become the focus of all NCUA assistance for troubled credit unions and corporate credit unions.
"House passage is the first formal step toward enactment," said Ryan Donovan, senior lobbyist for CUNA, after yesterday’s vote. "The bill will now move to the Senate where we will be encouraging senators to approve the house-passed CLF language."
"We are grateful for Congress giving the credit union community continued flexibility and options during this crisis that they did not cause," said Fred Becker, president of NAFCU, which lobbied for the extended funding for the CLF.
