WASHINGTON–The question for America’s Credit Unions following today’s meeting by the House Ways & Means Committee? Will the strategy now pivot to “get out”?
Ways & Means is debating the enormous tax bill that seeks to extend the tax cuts passed in President Trump’s first term and other tax measures. But budgetary pressures, especially to not increase the federal deficit, has Congress looking for off-sets, or what are known as “pay-fors,” as in “how to pay for the tax cuts.”
As the CU Daily has been regularly reporting, credit unions have been worried the that the CU tax exemption will be one of those “pay-fors.”
Looking to ‘Stay Out’
To that end, to date America’s Credit Unions has been deploying what its president and CEO, Jim Nussle, has called a “stay out strategy,” that is, lobbying on the Hill and in home districts and states to “stay out” of the bill.
It was part of a strategy the trade group outlined during a meeting with state leagues and others earlier this year in Miami and which has been in place since the new Congress was seated.
Nussle, who served on the Ways & Means Committee when he was in Congress, said America’s Credit Unions has been blanketing members of the committee and Congress with both “positive and negative” messaging: the positive messages have been around what credit unions do in their communities, and the negative messages around what could happen if the tax exemption is lost and Americans see their “taxes increased.” In other words, angry constituents.
“I would say we’re cautiously optimistic, and our messages have had a positive impact on the conversations (with legislators and staff),” Nussle said, adding more than a half-million messages have been sent to Congress as part of ACU’s “Don’t Tax My Credit Union” campaign.
Pivoting to ‘Get Out’
Nussle said while it’s possible discussions by Ways & Means Committee members on the tax bill could extend beyond today, his experience has been that a strong sense of direction typically is clear after day one.
But if credit unions lose that fight and the tax exemption is targeted for elimination, Nussle said a strategy is in place to pivot and focus efforts on “Get out.”
“We have a strategy to do that,” he said, declining to provide additional information on what that strategy might be.
Working All the Way to Rose Garden
“The stay-out strategy does not end today and does not end with you announcement of a draft (bill), it does not end with committee consideration, because if you are a student of this process, you know that until the bill is signed by President Trump in the Rose Garden, we cannot let up, we will not let up.”
While the House and Senate have similar but not identical processes to moving the tax bill, Nussle noted each as a different “game plan” for the pay-fors that will require constant monitoring.