Newsroom

February 10, 2013

If funding expires, federal shutdown ahead

Feb. 11, 2013 – Federal government agencies and offices are currently operating under a continuing resolution, or stopgap funding bill,that expires March 27, leaving just weeks for Congress and the White House to agree on fiscal 2013 funding to avoid a federal government shutdown.

Credit unions aren't funded by federal tax dollars, and neither is NCUA. However, many credit unions have facilities in federal government buildings and on military installations. Millions of credit unions members are also paid by the federal government, either as agency workers, under contract or as members of the military. A federal shutdown would have serious consequences.

Quincy Enoch, NAFCU's associate director of legislative affairs and military liaison, wrote defense credit unions recently about the possibility of a shutdown. In his email, which also touted Military Saves Week (Feb. 25-March 2), he recalled that large numbers of credit unions put their own plans together in 2011 – the last time there was a real shutdown threat – for assisting their members in the event of furloughs.

The credit unions' plans included elements such as deferred-payment terms for existing loans, the extension of very-low-cost loans to affected members and advance-pay loans. Enoch encouraged credit unions to start thinking about these types of plans now.

"When a shut-down appears imminent, we try to give base commanders and federal agency officials a list of the institutions that have shared their plans to assist members during a furlough," he said. "We will be working to do that in the weeks ahead as the March 27 CR deadline nears." Credit unions can send their information to Enoch by email to qenoch@nafcu.org.