CDFI Budget Committee Sees New Faces

WASHINGTON – Community Development Credit Unions and other financial institutions will have two Senators to lobby in their quest to restore funds cut by the Bush Administration. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Harry Reid (D-Nev.) have joined the Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development and Independent Agencies, which has jurisdiction over the CDFI Fund. Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) and Senator Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.) have dropped off the VA-HUD Subcommittee since the last Congress. The CDFI Coalition is still evaluating what impact the arrival of the new legislators will have on coming CDFI budget battles. Jennifer Vasiloff, the executive director of the Arlington based CDFI Coalition, said that both Texas and Nevada have CDFI institutions in them and that the Coalition looks forward to building bridges to both lawmakers. The Bush Administration has cut its request to CDFI funding steadily over the past two years. The CDFI Coalition has set its sights on convincing Congress to restore the funding.