WASHINGTON—The budget reconciliation bill and the GENIUS Act remain top legislative priorities the trade associations acknowledged Monday morning as the House is in-district this week and the Senate remains in town for three days before leaving Thursday in observance of Juneteenth.
“We’re waiting for the release of the Senate Finance Committee text on the reconciliation bill,” said DCUC Chief Advocacy Officer Jason Stverak during a call with the media Monday morning. “We were in talks most of the weekend with the Senate Finance Committee offices and believe we're in a good spot”—where the Senate will not include credit unions’ tax exemption in its list of “pay-fors.”
“But until we see it in writing we're going to make sure we run through the tape on our efforts,” said Stverak, who added it’s expected that official text will be released Monday evening. My understanding is that the Senate is still on track to get this passed on the floor by the July 4 recess.”
ACU President and CEO Jim Nussle acknowledged the trade association remains focused on the Senate’s version of the reconciliation bill, despite credit unions not being mentioned in any previous versions of the legislation.
“We anticipate (the Senate’s text) coming out possibly even this afternoon,” Nussle said. “We got a heads up from our sources that there's nothing in there that affects credit unions, which is obviously another victory in our battle to stay out of the tax bill.”
Turning to the GENIUS Act, Nussle said, “We're monitoring the GENIUS Act and we are pleased the bill has moved forward without the (Sen. Roger) Marshall language and the credit card interest rate cap—which we were able to help get squashed, said Nussle, who added ACU expects a vote on that legislation this week.”
Stverak, too, believes the GENIUS Act will be passed soon.
“We expect the GENIUS Act to be brought up and passed this week before the Senate leaves for recess,” he said. “We're obviously excited to see this bill going forward without any amendment from senator (Roger) Marshall and his Credit Card Competition Act.”
Also happening this week:
TUESDAY
- The Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing on protecting older Americans from scams