adminLast night, the Senate approved their fiscal year 2018 omnibus spending legislation, which was also passed by the House earlier in the day. The bill contains many wins for credit unions and now heads to President Trump’s desk.
CUNA and the Leagues again won a battle in the bill to keep the NCUA out of the appropriations process. CUNA scored a significant win last year when a provision that would have placed NCUA under appropriations was removed on the House floor by an amendment from Reps. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) and Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.).
The bill also includes funding for two key credit union priorities, the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund and NCUA’s Community Development Revolving Loan Fund (CDRLF).
Both funds were zeroed out in President Donald Trump’s budget request for fiscal year 2018.
The omnibus bill funds the CDFI Fund at $250, a $2 million increase from last year. The CDRLF receives $2 million, the same as last year.
The legislation also:
- Maintains and expands loan limits in the Small Business Administration’s 7(a) and 504 loan programs, at $29 billion and $7.5 billion respectively. These programs allow for partially guaranteed government loans that are partially exempt from the statutory credit union member business lending cap;
- Makes $12 million available for the Cooperative Development Program, a five-year competitive grant program that responds to the needs of local, host country cooperatives.
