WASHINGTON — CUNA and NAFCU have both stepped up their efforts to lobby both Congress and the U.S. Treasury Department in opposition to the portions of the department's recent regulatory reform proposal dealing with credit unions.

The department released its Blueprint for federal financial regulatory reform on March 30 to widespread credit union criticism. Not only did the document suggest eliminating NCUA in favor of a single federal regulator and the share insurance fund in favor of one insurance pool for all federal depositories, it also proposed effectively eliminating the federal credit union charter and hinted that state-chartered credit unions also might be at risk.

If that were not enough, credit union industry analysts also noted the use of language in the Blueprint describing credit unions that appeared to mimic banker rhetoric against credit unions. The report states "Some credit unions have arguably moved away from their original mission of making credit available to people of small means, and in many cases they provide services which are difficult to distinguish from other depository institutions."