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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday that a House-passed bill to suspend the federal debt ceiling until mid-May will be taken up by the Senate before week's end.

The debt ceiling suspension would leave more time for lawmakers and the White House to hammer out an agreement to address automatic spending cuts and other fiscal issues. If that date arrives with no action, the federal government faces a potential $85 billion reduction in spending authority for the year. Lawmakers are addressing deficit reduction in tandem with tax reform, and everything is still on the table. "That means the credit union tax exemption remains at risk," said NAFCU lobbyist Brad Thaler.

NAFCU is contacting lawmakers and talking to them on a daily basis about the value of the credit union tax exemption to all Americans, including credit union members and bank customers. The benefits of the exemption are detailed in NAFCU's landmark economic study of the exemption released last September. Credit unions are encouraged to download a copy and use it in their own contacts with lawmakers.

Thaler notes the risk to the exemption is real. Last year, Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla., proposed a bill that would have eliminated 29 tax expenditures, including the credit union tax exemption, over a five-year period. NAFCU worked with Ross and his staff to ensure the provision's removal. Ross, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, said the exemption was targeted in error and has since introduced a new bill that makes no reference to it.

• NAFCU tax exemption study