Looking back four years ago finds Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) bringing some sparks to CUNA's 2002 Governmental Affairs Conference and giving bankruptcy reform supporters reasons to hope their legislation may reach President Bush's desk sooner rather than later.

“We have seen case after case where people have used bankruptcy as a financial planning tool rather than a tool that allows someone who is down and out to get up off the floor and to have a new start,” said Sensenbrenner. “The time has come to amend the law and make sure that the people claiming bankruptcy protection are legitimately bankrupt rather than simply seeking to shift their bad financial decisions onto their fellow human beings.”

That issue also finds the heavy support for credit unions to get deeper into business lending.

“There is a perception that when we talk about member business lending we are talking about credit unions going out there and financing commercial development and strip malls and those sorts of things,” said Kirk Cuevas, chief of staff and counsel to Chairman Dollar. “When in reality the member business lending that credit unions are engaged in are the panel truck lending, which is what we call it in Mississippi where a guy wants to open a side business or he wants to buy a pick-up truck to use in a lawn care business that he is starting up. When we are talking about start-up capital credit unions should be leading the charge in this area.”