WASHINGTON — Conceding that they had not discussed the issues with their bosses, economic advisers to presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama declined today to take a position on risk-based capital or increasing member business loans.
In a joint appearance at NAFCU's Congressional Caucus, Obama adviser Gary Gensler and McCain adviser Ike Brannon both praised credit unions for not having contributed to the current financial crisis but made no promises about policies directly impacting credit unions.
Gensler said Obama "hasn't been briefed on these issues," but promised that the candidate would evaluate this and related subjects in the future.
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Brannon said McCain is "very supportive of credit unions and is very thankful that the problems keeping us up at night aren't caused by credit unions."
Both advisers also said their candidates supported the Treasury Department's decision not to provide financial guarantees to Lehman Brothers that might have prevented the Wall Street firm from filing for bankruptcy protection today. Brannon and Gensler agreed that the situation was different than when the government infused Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with additional capital and placed them under conservatorship.
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