NAFCU, lawmakers talk CU issues

	Sen. Elizabeth Warren (shown, with   NAFCU's Fred Becker) became   acquainted with NAFCU's board   and staff during initial start-up of   the CFPB.            – NAFCU photos

Jan. 4, 2013 – Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla., and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., were among the dozens of lawmakers visited by NAFCU President and CEO Fred Becker and the association’s lobbying team Thursday, the first day of the 113th Congress.

Becker said it’s important for lawmakers to be well-versed on credit unions’ significant role in the nation’s economy.

“Credit unions are Main Street’s not-for-profit, member-owned cooperative financial institutions with a core mission to provide their members with low-cost financial services,” the NAFCU president said. “We welcome the opportunity to work with Congress and the Obama administration to promote an environment that will allow for the continued success of credit unions and help advance our nation’s economic recovery.”

The NAFCU contingent focused on issues of most importance to credit unions, including preservation of the credit union federal income tax exemption during Thursday’s visits, which included attendance at dozens of swearing-in ceremonies for returning and new credit union friends in Congress.

NAFCU Executive Vice President of Government Affairs Dan Berger, Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler and lobbyists Quincy Enoch, Jillian Pevo and Dan O’Brien all participated in Thursday’s opening day activities.

Warren, the administration’s point person in establishment of the CFPB, won election to her first Senate term last November and will serve on the Senate Banking Committee. Ross is the sponsor of a bill that flags more than two dozen federal tax expenditures for elimination, and who has told NAFCU will be revised to ensure no harm to the credit union tax exemption. Tester led the Senate effort to repeal the debit interchange fee cap provision of the Dodd-Frank Act.

The NAFCU representatives also visited Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Reps. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., and Richard Hanna, R-N.Y., among others.

From left: Sen. Jon Tester (left, with NAFCU's Dan Berger and Brad Thaler) was a staunch ally with credit unions   on the debit interchange fee cap debate. NAFCU worked with Rep. Dennis Ross (shown with NAFCU's Jillian Pevo)   on a clarification of a bill he introduced last year that would have eliminated certain tax expenditures.