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NAFCU's 2017 Congressional Caucus general sessions opened Monday with a question-and-answer session featuring NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger and Executive Vice President of Government Affairs and General Counsel Carrie Hunt, who detailed the association's top priorities in its work to ensure the credit union industry's best interests.

During the session, Berger and Hunt discussed several of NAFCU's priorities, including:

• ensuring credit unions get all of their money back from the Temporary Corporate Credit Union Stabilization Fund (TCCUSF) and preventing an increase to the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund's (NCUSIF) normal operating level (NOL);
• working with the NCUA, CFPB and Congress to reduce regulations that make it more expensive and difficult for credit unions to serve their communities;
• protecting consumers' personal information and providing resources to credit union members in light of the Equifax data breach; and
• defending credit unions' tax-exempt status as Congress seeks to pass comprehensive tax reform in the coming months.

Under the proposal to increase the NCUSIF's NOL, Berger emphasized that credit unions will only get about 15 percent of the money they contributed to the Stabilization Fund back, while the NCUA will keep about $1 billion.

"We want to make sure you get your money back," Berger told the crowd of hundreds of credit union CEOs and leaders.

At the top of the discussion, Hunt outlined NAFCU's five tenets for ensuring a positive environment for credit unions, as follows:

• a regulatory environment that allows credit unions to grow;
• appropriate, tailored regulation for credit unions and relief from growing regulatory burdens;
• a fair playing field;
• transparency and independent oversight; and
• a strong, independent NCUA as the primary regulator for credit unions.

Berger said any congressional reform needs the support of eight moderate Senate Democrats to pass. He also reiterated NAFCU's support for a bipartisan commission at the CFPB rather than single director.

Carrie Hunt, NAFCU Executive Vice President of Government Affairs and General Counsel (Photo by Kevin Dietsch)

The two highlighted meetings NAFCU and its members have had with White House officials and key federal agencies, which Hunt said is important anytime there's a change in administration to ensure an understanding of credit unions' functions and priorities. Throughout these discussions, there has been no indication that credit unions' tax-exempt status is at risk this tax reform cycle, Berger said, but NAFCU remains diligent to ensure the exemption is safe.

NAFCU's Congressional Caucus runs through Wednesday in Washington. Over the course of Caucus, NAFCU members will have more than 200 meetings with U.S. Senators and Representatives. Berger encouraged credit union representatives to "give specific examples of how you're helping members" during those meetings.

"Tell your story," Berger said. "Make them feel the impact of what you're doing in communities and how you're helping your members. You don't need to get into the nitty gritty of everything, but share the good news."

Congressional Caucus is open to members and nonmembers; follow the hashtag #NAFCUCaucus for the latest information.