Credit union priorities addressed during community banking hearing

February 5, 2025

Despite an initial focus on community banking, credit unions and the shared need for regulatory relief to benefit communities were addressed during Wednesday’s House Financial Services Committee hearing.

Committee Chairman French Hill, R-Ark., addressed credit unions in his opening remarks, saying credit unions and community banks have “suffered immensely” under overregulation and are “critical engines” for local economies.

Ranking Member Maxine Waters, D-Calif., also said the hearing is to “discuss how to strengthen community banks and credit unions, vital institutions that are lifelines for families and small businesses across the country, particularly in underserved communities.”

Many committee members expressed support for policies America’s Credit Unions highlighted in a letter to the committee prior to the hearing. That includes repealing the CFPB’s small business lending data collection rule, voiding the CFPB’s overdraft rule via Congressional Review Act, and allowing increased access to Federal Home Loan Banks.

Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, entered a letter for the record from the Iowa Credit Union League, and said their recommendations are a “very good framework of what’s working in Iowa, and some recommendations on what we could do at the federal level.”

Rep. Bill Foster, D-Ill., said credit unions and community banks “face many challenges and do not have the scale to compete with megabanks,” and said he hopes the committee will address these issues going forward.

Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., said many of the regulatory relief provisions he expressed support for during the hearing can also apply to credit unions, who “face many of same problems in terms of regulations.”

Members of America’s Credit Unions advocacy team attended the hearing and engaged with committee members before and after. Both in person and on social media, America’s Credit Unions thanked members of Congress who expressed support for credit unions and credit union priorities during the hearing, and shared additional information and resources on credit union advocacy policy priorities

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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