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A NAFCU-supported bill introduced Tuesday by Reps. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., mirrors a recent Senate bill by calling for public hearings on NCUA's annual budget and requiring publication of the agency's draft budget in the Federal Register.

H.R. 2287, the "National Credit Union Administration Budget Transparency Act," would require NCUA to provide notice of a public hearing on its budget and invite comments on it.

"We appreciate the leadership shown by Representatives Mulvaney and Sinema in putting forth legislation to help achieve NCUA budget transparency," said NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger. "We believe requiring NCUA to hold public budget hearings is a simple, common-sense practice that will help give credit unions a voice in the agency's setting of the yearly operating budget, which is funded directly by credit unions and their members."

The House bill is identical to a bill introduced last month by Sens. Dean Heller, R-Nev., and Mark Warner, D-Va. NCUA budget hearings are also called for in the draft regulatory improvement bill released yesterday by Senate Banking Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala.

In other action, Mulvaney in late February also introduced NAFCU-supported legislation (H.R. 1176) to require the Government Accountability Office to study nearly every aspect of NCUA's budgeting and expenditure practices.

Mulvaney and Sinema both sit on the House Financial Services Committee. Heller and Warner are on the Senate Banking Committee.