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The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) Wednesday advanced its version of the fiscal year 2021 FSGG bill, which included $273.5 million for the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund and $2 million for the NCUA's Community Development Revolving Loan Fund (CDRLF).

Funding for the CDFI Fund is slightly lower than what was allocated in the final FY2020 FSGG bill, and the CDRLF money is on par with last year. NAFCU Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler wrote the subcommittee ahead of its bill markup to advocate for more funding for these programs, which are used by credit unions to support low-income communities.

The House-passed HEROES Act's inclusion of an additional $1 billion in emergency funding for the CDFI Fund that "would allow more credit unions to access monies to provide specific programs to help their members," Thaler wrote, adding a request to consider measures to ease credit unions' process to become a CDFI, which would encourage more to take advantage of the program.

For the CDRLF, Thaler cited NCUA Board Member Todd Harper's request for $10 million more for grants this year to ensure credit unions have the proper policies and infrastructure in place to address work-from-home and social distancing measures amid the coronavirus pandemic.

As the FSGG bill heads to the full House Appropriations Committee for consideration, NAFCU will continue to advocate for increased funding for these important programs that allow credit unions to better serve low-income communities.