WASHINGTON -Credit unions were joined by several members of Congress and representatives of small business last week in a renewed push to raise the cap on credit union business loans.
Organized by CUNA, a press conference was followed by a Hike the Hill effort to push forward legislation that would raise the Member Business Lending cap to 27.5% from 12.25%. But strong opposition from the nation's banking industry remains.
The chief sponsors of the house bill to raise the cap, Reps. Ed Royce (R-CA) and Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), said small businesses need loans they can't get elsewhere in order to grow. "The point is there is a better way to go to help small businesses access capital...and that is the Small Business Lending Act," Royce said.
McCarthy said the legislation, which has been a credit union priority for a decade, needs a strong push. "We can fight for it. We can push to have a committee hearing on it, so people can hear our voices," McCarthy said. "But it's the people back home - it's all of you - that have to do the heavy lifting also."
In an interview with American Banker, an affiliate of Credit Union Journal, Paul Merski, chief economist for the Independent Community Bankers of America said, "Only one percent of the credit unions - about two dozen of them - are restricted by this 12.5% cap. It's not getting any traction on the Hill because it's a faux issue."
CUNA President Bill Cheney said that if the MBL limit is increased it will pump $13 billion in new credit into the economy and create 140,000 new jobs.
The current House bill has 117 cosponsors, the Senate bill has 22 co-sponsors.
