WASHINGTON—The House and Senate worked late into the night Friday to come to agreement on a spending plan that averted a partial government shutdown at 12:01 Saturday morning, just days before the holidays.
Lawmakers in the Republican-controlled House voted 366 to 34 on Friday evening to approve the proposal. The Senate approved the plan by a vote of 85 to 11, and then sent the spending package to President Joe Biden's desk at 12:38 a.m. Saturday. The legislation funds the government through March 14.
The Defense Credit Union Council, which followed the proceedings late into Friday night, told CUToday.info before the legislation passed that it had concerns about an agreement being reached.
“We are glad at the last-minute Congress was able to pass legislation to fund the government and ensure our nation’s service members and their families are supported, especially right before Christmas,” said DCUC Chief Advocacy Officer Jason Stverak. “No one should have to worry about their family’s finances as they are on the front lines around the globe protecting our nation. Thankfully, defense credit unions were ready to step in and provide for their members and their families. DCUC is deeply appreciative of their willingness to stand by their members during these difficult times. Service and commitment to community are more than just slogans for them."
Stverak said DCUC credit unions were concerned and prepared to step in for their members.
Ready To Move
Mike Augustine, CEO of the $204-million Frontier Community Credit Union in Leavenworth, Kans., spoke with CUToday.info Friday and said his organization was ready to move at a moment's notice.
“It’s been threatened in the past, and it has happened,” Augustine said about the last government shutdown in 2019. “The first thing we offer is a loan extension for any member who is affected by the shutdown. We do a one-month extension for every month that the shutdown occurs and we just keep on going until the shutdown is over.”
Augustine acknowledged his military members, which comprise 35% of the organization’s 18,300 members, were on edge Friday.
“They’re scared. They're nervous,” he said Friday. “Because they don't know where they're going to get the money to put gas in their cars or how they're going to be able to pay for food at the grocery stores. And the worst thing about a shutdown now is that it’s right before Christmas.”
At $5.8-billion Service CU in Portsmouth, N.H., President and CEO David Araujo, a member of the DCUC board of directors, shared a similar perspective Friday, acknowledging his members were bracing for bad news. He recalled the last government shutdown in January of 2019, which lasted 30 days. Friday, Araujo said he feared if a shutdown did occur Saturday morning that it would be protracted.
“But that didn’t happen,” Araujo told CUToday.info Saturday morning. “The credit union and our members are thankful for that, especially as Christmas is almost here.”
Araujo noted on Friday that when a government shutdown occurs, the CU—which includes the Department of Defense in its field of membership—typically looks at its members’ direct deposit activity and determines ways the organization can help them continue with their payroll, and meeting any of their expense expectations during the time in which the government is shut down.