The Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act along with the National Defense Authorization Act are stealing the spotlight this week.
Banks and credit unions have battled for months over a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act that would grant banks access to the no-cost land leases that credit unions enjoy. The House
The differences in the legislation will now be hammered out this week. The conference committee will put together a report that outlines changes that need to be made in order for final legislation to pass both chambers of Congress.
According to the Credit Union National Association's Chief Advocacy Officer Ryan Donovan, leadership has met with the conference committee members and that the report should be wrapped up by the end of the week. But the ultimate outcome remains unclear.
“[W]e remain concerned that Section 2821’s intent to tie the fate of banks on the lease issue to credit unions and their good work misses the mark, and would ultimately disadvantage credit unions,” Brad Thaler, vice president of legislative affairs of the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions, wrote in a letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Lawmakers are preparing to vote on the SAFE Banking Act sometime this week. According to a NAFCU spokesperson, the credit union trade group still has concerns with the legislation but is supportive of the overall concept.
The issue of faster payments is being taken up by both the House and the Senate this week.
The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing this Wednesday on facilitating faster payments in the United States and the House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing on Thursday looking into the future of real-time payments.
And that's just one of the six hearings that the House Financial Services Committee has lined up for this week. House lawmakers will also examine the racial and gender wealth gap and assess threats to the U.S. financial system. They will consider legislation to protect consumers from abusive debt collection practices and review the FHA's home equity conversion mortgage program.
