WASHINGTON–It’s a busy week in Washington for Congress, which will be taking its Thanksgiving break next week.
On the agenda:
- On Tuesday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on Communications and Technology will hold a hearing on “Oversight of the Federal Communications Commission.” The hearing is of interest to CUs due to FTC rules around so-called “robo-calling,” which could impact a credit union’s ability to communicate with members. NAFCU recently entered a suit challenging the FCC’s order on Telephone Consumer Protection Act prohibitions on autodialed calls. The hearing begins at 10:15 a.m. E.T.
- Also on Tuesday, a hearing by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will be held to examine information security at the Department of Education. Specifically, the committee will review the department’s efforts to secure the personal information provided by federal student aid applicants and their parents. The hearing is slated to begin at 10 a.m. ET.
- Among the legislation both NAFCU and CUNA said they are watching is HR 1210, the Portfolio Lending and Mortgage Access Act, which both trade groups have strongly supported for several years. That bill would treat mortgages held in portfolio as qualified mortgages and as a result provide CUs with significant regulatory relief.
- The Highway Trust Fund bill, HR 22, is again being debated in Congress. Credit unions have a vested interest due to several barrier-removing amendments that are part of the legislation. As NAFCU noted, that bill “advances some NAFCU-supported regulatory relief measures for credit unions, including H.R. 601, the ‘Elimination Privacy Notice Confusion Act.’ H.R. 601 would clarify that consumers will receive privacy notices after opening a new account and when their providers’ privacy policies change.”
With conferees facing a Friday deadline, as that’s when the existing authorization expires, CUNA’s Ryan Donovan said the result could be yet another short-term extension of funding, rather than passage of the bill.