WASHINGTON – CUNA feels its grassroots efforts over the Fourth of July congressional recess really paid off.

Pat Keefe, vice president of communications and media outreach, said that CUNA knows of more than 7,000 contacts-mostly via e-mail-with members of Congress over the recess regarding regulatory relief legislation and particularly targeting the proposal to include elimination of the cap on thrift business lending. He emphasized that while the group helped frame the comments, nothing “canned” was provided to the credit unions.

Given a recent report in the American Banker that credit unions have successfully argued for parity with savings institutions, the group is fairly confident its efforts to block the provision that would make the thrift charter a more attractive option for credit unions. Keefe said he did not know how parity would be maintained. “From what we know, there has been no answer from the Senate to the House yet,” he said.

CUNA has consistently argued that the Senate bill was intended not to cause controversy, but including a provision to eliminate the thrift business lending cap without a comparable piece for credit unions is unacceptable.