WASHINGTON – Even with Congress approving the massive government bailout of the financial markets last week, the credit union lobby was making a final pitch for its regulatory relief package.
CUNA was calling on the Senate, which is expected to meet after the elections in a so-called lame duck session, to take up the regulatory relief bill known as the CU Bank and Thrift Regulatory Relief Act. The bill provides dozens of deregulatory provisions for credit unions and banks.
And last week NAFCU called on congressional leaders to add the long-sought regulatory relief provisions of CURIA, specifically the lifting of member business loan limits and enactment of a risk-based capital system, into a new economic stimulus package being crafted. In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader John Boehner, NAFCU said the regulatory relief measures "can provide immediate economic stimulus to the country without additional costs to the American taxpayer."
But passage of the measures is doubtful, as dozens of members of Congress are railing against deregulation undertaken in recent years and pointing to deregulation is one of the main causes of the banking crisis. House leaders were promising during last week’s debate over the massive banking and credit union bailout that next year’s Congress will tackle more regulation of the financial markets.
