WASHINGTON—With Congress back in their districts until after the Nov. 5 election, after passing a bill to fund the federal government through Dec. 20, America’s Credit Unions and the Defense Credit Union Council (DCUC) said they are reaching out to Congressional leaders in their hometowns.
“We're heading into the election season, so, we're seeing that Congress is now officially in recess, and they’ve got the government funded through December…We're engaging with lawmakers and engaging in advocacy, constantly working with credit union champions and constantly working with our leagues and our members to engage with congressional leaders back in the districts. That's taking up a lot of our time,” ACU SVP of Advocacy Greg Mesack said.
DCUC Thanks Defense CUs
At DCUC, Chief Advocacy Officer Jason Stverak said the Council is glad to see Congress pass the government funding bill through Dec. 20.
“We want to thank all the defense-related credit unions, and our members, for reaching out to their members and setting up plans in case the government did shut down. Hopefully, after the election, when members of Congress return, we will not be playing a game of chicken again,” he said.
Stverak, added, too, that DCUC was glad to see that in the latest session no bills were passed that included any references to the Credit Card Competition Act and that no language was added regarding modifying the Federal Credit Union Act to provide Share Insurance Fund coverage for non-members.
“But we understand the House is going to begin working on a final NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) to bring up after they come back, after the election,” he said. “So, we will be aggressive up on the hill with meetings and having our members reaching out to committee staff.”