Twenty-three Senators, led by Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, emphasized bipartisan support for the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund in a letter to the Trump administration. The group responded to the administration’s Executive Order (EO) limiting the fund to its statutory functions.

“Over 1,400 CDFIs represent a significant portion of America’s financial services sector, delivering over $300 billion in financial services each year to urban and rural communities across every state,” the senators wrote. “Each year, CDFIs provide affordable growth capital to over 100,000 small businesses and finance over $100 billion in residential real estate, bringing down the cost of housing through new construction and affordable home mortgages. The important work of the CDFI sector is strengthened by the CDFI Fund, which provides seed funding to new CDFIs, grows the capacity of existing CDFIs, and provides oversight to ensure federal dollars are spent appropriately. Elimination of key CDFI Fund functions would undermine this important progress, including for small businesses and homeowners.”

Warner and Crapo are avid supporters of the CDFI fund, launching the bi-partisan Senate Community Development Finance Caucus in 2022. The Caucus, which now includes 28 Senators with a 50-50 partisan split, focuses on coordinating and expanding public and private-sector efforts in support of CDFI missions.

This letter follows Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s statement clarifying that CDFI Fund programs are statutory programs. America’s Credit Unions and league partners also sent a letter to the Treasury Department asking for clarification on the EO. Almost 500 credit unions are CDFI-certified, which qualifies them to receive CDFI Fund grants.

America’s Credit Unions has long advocated in support of the CDFI Program and will continue to engage Treasury and administration officials and provide credit unions with additional updates as developments occur. The Compliance Blog has more information on the EO, noting what credit unions can do now to review CDFI programs.