WASHINGTON–It remains uncertain just what the ticking clock that is the limited number of days left on the congressional schedule before members leave town ahead of the mid-terms will mean for certain legislation of interest to credit unions.
As the CU Daily has previously reported, the two bills of particular interest to not just CUs but the broader market are the CLARITY Act (which provides a framework of rules around digital assets), and the $1.1-trillion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which directly affects credit unions serving the military and indirectly affects all CUs should it become a carrying horse for other legislation, such as the credit union-opposed Credit Card Competition Act, or multiple credit union-favored bills.
Both the House and the Senate are in session this week.
Reach-Out Continues
Jason Stverak, chief advocacy officer with the Defense Credit Union Council, said the group continues to reach out to leadership in both the House and Senate on the possibility of including a financial services section in the must-pass NDAA.
Asked during a media call by the CU Daily what the ticking clock in Congress might mean—will Congress be more or less inclined to include additional language in the NDAA, given the timeline, or could the short time frame make it easier to add language in the rush to get it passed, Stverak answered, “I know this is weird to say, but you’re going to get both. It just depends on when you ask that question.
“I think if (Congress is) looking towards a much shorter runway to get legislation passed, they’re going to look to any bill that is going to have a greater-than-normal chance of passing,” Stverak explained. “So, right now there is a greater opportunity to include other pieces of legislation or legislative text as part of a larger Christmas tree type of legislation where you’re hanging things on to it. But as you move forward, if there is no movement, you’ll see a switch to a ‘We just gotta pass the bill,’ and there will be an opposition to adding things to the NDAA, primarily because it will just cause ow problems or issues or slow the bill down.
‘The End Goal’
“The end goal is to get the particularly the NDAA passed before the end of the year so it kind of at what point you’re in that pendulum or that timeline there’s going to be different answer to that question,” Stverak said.
