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March 8, 2012 – NAFCU President and CEO Fred Becker yesterday told the House and Senate leadership in plain terms that the association cannot support any jobs legislation that fails to allow credit unions a higher member business lending cap or access to supplemental capital.

The House and Senate are each looking at a variety of measures being promoted under the guise of jobs creation. These focus on ways that small businesses can access capital, community banks' Subchapter S authority and bank registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Becker, in letters to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said NAFCU and its members "strongly support all efforts to create jobs and improve our nation's economy." But given credit unions' strong record of responsibly serving members in tough times, it is "incomprehensible" that Congress would put forward a jobs package that doesn't also include an MBL cap lift or supplemental capital authority for credit unions.

"Restricting credit unions on the amount of business lending they can facilitate is counterproductive to job creation and should be addressed immediately," Becker said. Treasury and NCUA have already signed off on the MBL cap lift proposed in S. 509 and H.R. 1418, which represents a "common-sense proposal that would create jobs without spending a single dime of taxpayer funds," he said.

The NAFCU president added that access to supplemental forms of capital could "further minimize the probability of credit union insolvency, allow credit unions to better react to market conditions, and ensure credit unions have the flexibility they need to grow and serve their communities."