Newsroom

May 21, 2014 – NAFCU today will be monitoring both a House Financial Services subcommittee hearing containing testimony from subpoenaed CFPB officials on the bureau's workplace discrimination claims and a Senate appropriations hearing on the budgets for the Small Business Administration and Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.

The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hear from two CFPB managers during its hearing titled "Allegations of Discrimination and Retaliation within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Part Two," today. As a result of an internal report by CFPB released on Monday, which showed "statistically significant disparities" in employee evaluations, according to an American Banker article, the bureau is doing away with its current pay system. The article stated that CFPB would pay most employees "the highest rating available at the time of their evaluation."

Also today, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government will review the president's fiscal year 2015 funding request for the SBA and CDFI fund. SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet and Treasury Acting Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions Amias Gerety will testify.

NAFCU is monitoring developments on SBA and CDFI Fund appropriations. For credit unions, every loan dollar backed by SBA is excluded from the MBL cap, which is set by statute at 12.25 percent of total assets. Meanwhile, any credit union with NCUA's low-income designation is eligible for Treasury's CDFI designation.

Tomorrow, NAFCU will be monitoring the continuation of a House Financial Services Committee mark-up of several bills affecting credit union mortgage lending and regulatory burden. The mark-up, paused for last week's recess, has already resulted in one bill, the NAFCU-supported "Mortgage Choice Act," being reported to the full House.

Also up tomorrow:

• postal reform mark-up of House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa's, R-Calif., bill;
• a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing on draft legislation to address abusive demand letters claiming patent infringement; and
• mark-up of comprehensive patent reform legislation by the Senate Judiciary Committee.