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April 29, 2014 – NCUA Board nominee Mark McWatters and three Federal Reserve Board nominees are expected to be approved by the Senate Banking Committee today, which is then set to take up a housing finance reform measure drafted by panel leaders.

The committee will also be taking action on several federal agency nominations, including:

• Stanley Fischer to be vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors,
• Jerome Powell and Lael Brainard to be members of the board,
• Nani Coloretti to be deputy secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and
• Gustavo Aguilar to be assistant secretary of HUD.

If approved by the committee, these nominations would next be addressed in the Senate, which could vote to confirm them in upcoming weeks.

Following the votes on the nominations, the panel will proceed to consideration of the draft housing finance reform package proposed by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-S.D., and Ranking Member Mike Crapo, R-Idaho.

After reviewing proposed changes to the package in a manager's amendment over the weekend, NAFCU lobbyists said the changes would be a positive step toward addressing some credit union concerns, but other issues including the costs and ease of transition to an entirely new system remain. NAFCU expressed these concerns and more in a letter to the Committee yesterday ahead of the mark-up.