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NAFCU's advocacy operation will be in full swing this week, promoting credit unions' interests on Capitol Hill as a House-Senate conference committee meets to reconcile tax-reform bills and the House Financial Services Committee conducts a mark-up that will include a NAFCU-sought bill to repeal the NCUA's risk-based capital rule (RBC).

Tomorrow, the House Financial Services Committee will mark up more than a dozen bills, including the Common Sense Credit Union Capital Relief Act of 2017, which would bar implementation of the NCUA's RBC rule currently set to take effect Jan. 1, 2019. A NAFCU witness testified before a subcommittee last week and urged members to support this legislation because of the negative impact the rule would have on the credit union industry. (Read more here)

Tomorrow, the Federal Open Market Committee begins its final meeting of 2017; that meeting concludes Wednesday. Despite low inflation over the past few months, the committee is expected to raise interest rates by a quarter point. (Read more here)

Thursday, the NCUA Board also has its final open meeting of 2017, during which it is expected to finalize the agency's emergency merger proposal. While overall supportive of efforts to modernize forecasting procedures for emergency mergers, NAFCU has urged the board to include in its rulemaking more transparency and a streamlined process for smaller credit unions. (Read more here)

Thursday is the last scheduled day of the year for the House and Senate to be in session. However, Congress is expected to remain in town as they work on a tax bill and government funding. Republicans hope to have tax reform passed before the end of the year, but House leadership announced last week that they do not expect a vote on an agreement this week. Lawmakers are also looking at another government funding deadline, as last week's House- and Senate-passed funding extension, which the president signed Friday, expires Dec. 22.

Preserving credit unions' tax exemption remains NAFCU's top legislative priority.

Also happening this week:

• Tomorrow, NAFCU is offering a webcast on the CFPB's payday lending rule. Learn more about the webcast and register for it here.
• Wednesday at 4 p.m. Eastern, NAFCU will host a member call-in, "Year-End Advocacy Update," featuring NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger and other senior staff on the latest in Washington having an impact on credit unions. The call is free to members, but registration is required.
• Wednesday, the Financial Accounting Standards Board holds an open meeting, beginning at 8 a.m. Eastern. The meeting will include a discussion on issues related to its current expected credit losses (CECL) standard. The board handed down two acceptable methods of determining the estimated life of a credit card receivable following its October meeting. (Read more here)
• Friday is the last day for members to submit comments to NAFCU on two key issues: the NCUA's proposed changes to its capital planning process and supervisory stress testing; and the agency's electronic collection of information during credit union examinations. Comments can be submitted through the Regulatory Alerts.