WASHINGTON–With the House and Senate in recess this week the work behind the scenes in Congress remains on budget cut targets that have been set by the Republicans.

The spending cuts are necessary to offset the tax cuts the administration is pushing aggressively to be part of its overall budget package.  Credit unions, of course, remain concerned the CU tax exemption will be sacrificed—or perhaps only revoked for the largest credit unions—as part of the budget reconciliation process.

There are several deadlines approaching related to spending cut proposals. The House Financial Services Committee is scheduled to meet on April 30 to discuss where it will trim spending, and House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) has expressed his desire to have everything voted and passed out of the House prior to the Memorial Day recess, noted Jason Stverak, chief advocacy officer with the Defense Credit Union Council (DCUC).

“We are constantly encouraging our members to reach out to their members of Congress, particularly while they’re back in district and back in their states this week, to be meeting with them and with district staff and telling them what the credit union tax status means for them and their communities,” said Stverak. “That effort, we believe, has been successful but we’re obviously not going to let up.”

Stverak pointed out the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) is also set to meet in Washington  in mid-May. As the CU Daily reported earlier, that organization has floated a plan to revoke the tax exemption for credit unions of more than $1 billion in assets.

The NDAA Returns

Another perennial issue is also returning and again getting attention and CU focus: the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Issues related to credit unions and banks are often tucked into that massive bill that is often referred to as a “Christmas tree”—such as whether banks can operate facilities on bases and other language of concern—that DCUC and America’s Credit Unions are wary of every year.

Among the things be watched for in this year’s legislation is any interchange-related language.

Congress, ideally, wants to get the NDAA passed by Sept 30 deadline, Stverak said. 

“It’s a must-pass bill…and we want to make sure that we keep the bill as clean as possible,” said Stverak.