Newsroom

May 23, 2017

Trump budget "restructures" CFPB, eliminates CDFI, CDRLF grants

President Donald Trump on Tuesday revealed his fiscal 2018 budget, which proposes a "restructure" of the CFPB, the elimination of new Community Development Financial Institution Fund and the Community Development Revolving Loan Fund grant programs and accounts for the credit union tax exemption through 2026.

The budget document indicates plans to look at all "tax expenditures," as the administration has previously said it plans to do, but it does not single out credit unions.

"NAFCU is pleased that President Trump's budget proposal does not single out the credit union tax exemption for elimination, and we will continue to work with Congress and the administration to protect the exemption throughout the tax reform process," said NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger.

"The association also supports CFPB reforms such as bringing the bureau under the congressional appropriations process, which the budget proposals suggest," Berger added. "However, we believe that cutting the CDFI Fund and CDRLF grant programs would be a mistake. CDFI credit unions predominately serve low-income areas and other target markets and are often the only financial services option for consumers that live paycheck to paycheck. The CDFI Fund grant program helps these credit unions better serve their communities, which are often overlooked by other financial institutions.

"NAFCU will continue to work with Congress to ensure that both the CDFI Fund and the CDRLF grant programs remain intact," Berger said.

Regarding the CFPB, the budget, titled "A New Foundation For American Greatness," proposes to limit CFPB's funding in 2018 and to bring the bureau into the regular congressional appropriations process beginning in 2019.

Credit unions with a presence on a military base should also note that Trump's budget proposal recommends that Congress authorize a new round of military base closures beginning in 2021.

The budget proposal also accounts for the credit union tax exemption through 2026. When estimating the total income of tax expenditures, Trump puts the credit union tax exemption at $3 billion for 2018. However, an independent tax study commissioned by NAFCU puts the total benefit to U.S. consumers from the presence of credit unions at $16 billion per year over the 10-year study period.

Trump's budget proposal also requests $1.5 trillion in nondefense discretionary cuts and $1.4 trillion in Medicaid cuts over the course of 10 years; it would also add nearly half a trillion dollars to defense spending.