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NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger applauded the inclusion of credit unions in Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's small business platform, released yesterday, which reaffirmed her past statements about cutting red tape so credit unions can continue providing capital for small businesses.

"We applaud Secretary Clinton's recognition of the importance of credit unions as a resource for capital for small businesses," Berger said. "Credit unions proved their mettle throughout the crisis providing much-needed capital to small business. Today, they want to continue to help small business and all their members achieve their financial dreams but nearly a credit union a day is disappearing due in large part to the overwhelming regulatory burden."

Clinton said she wants to "streamline regulations and cut red tape for community banks and credit unions, which are the backbone of small business lending in America." During an economic speech earlier this month, Clinton made similar remarks.

The main tenets in her small business platform include:

• making it easier to start a business and become profitable;
• making it easier to get financial and find investors;
• making it cheaper and fast to file taxes and pay for tax relief;
• making it easier to offer health care and other benefits to employees;
• making it easier to work with the federal government; and
• making it easier to fight back when you're getting stiffed.

NAFCU's federal advocacy team has met with both Clinton's and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's campaigns and continues to advocate the need for regulatory relief for credit unions and to preserve credit unions' federally tax-exempt status.