WASHINGTON–While there appears to be no end in sight for the federal government shutdown, some in Congress have indicated that a deal might be reached by Thanksgiving. And if that’s the case, it could mean a return of a threat credit unions thought had been vanquished—enactment of portions of the strongly opposed Credit Card Competition Act.
That’s because among the must-pass legislation Congress will have a short window to vote on will be the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which could become a carrying horse for multiple other pieces of legislation favored by some in Congress.
Stverak said it’s his understanding the formal conference committee process on the NDAA will begin this week or next, and that staff are already working on hammering out any
An ‘Ambitious Goal’
“The goal is to get it passed by both chambers and signed into law the second week of December,” said Stverak. “That’s an ambitious goal even if the government was open and Congress was working at full strength….You’re going to see kind of a sprint to the end of the year to pass whatever else they can and that means that the NDAA, as we’ve talked about in the past, is going to be much more attractive vehicle to add additional items or non-defense-related items to it.
“So, once again, we’re going to keep our eyes open so that there’s no push by Sen. (Richard) Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. (Roger) Marshall (R-KS) on the Credit Card Competition Act,” Stverak added.
