WASHINGTON — Democrats and Republicans here don't agree on much these days. But the bipartisan group of lawmakers who spoke at NAFCU's Congressional Caucus extolled the work of credit unions before and during the current financial crisis and promised to help them do more by passing regulatory relief.
Congressman Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.), one of the leading supporters of credit unions in Congress, said regulatory relief for credit unions will help them save the American economic system and thereby help save America from its economic slump.
"You have the power to fill the void caused by the shakeup in the financial services industry," said Kanjorski.
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While Kanjorski made no promises about this year, he pledged to help tell the story of credit unions' good works next year in an effort to persuade his colleagues to pass regulatory relief.
"Credit unions will be seen as the top sailor in a rough sea," he said.
Congressman Ed Royce (R-Calif.), his party's point person on credit unions, told the attendees that their efforts would eventually pay off and the Credit Union Regulatory Improvements Act (H.R. 1537) will pass.
"People like their banks, but they love their credit unions. And members of Congress sense that," he said.
NAFCU's conference occurred during several key events in the financial industry: the Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy, Merrill Lynch selling itself to Bank of America and the government bailout insurant giant AIG.
Several speakers used the problems of those firms as case studies of what not to do.
Congressman Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, said they need to change regulations "so there are no companies that are considered too big to fail."
He noted that Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and several large private companies are in that category. He praised the work of credit unions and noted they will continue helping people while never getting too big.
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) a supporter of credit unions, who has sometimes clashed with their lobbyists over her efforts to place more restrictions on credit cards, did not touch on their differences during her remarks.
"I am a fan because I see the unique services you provide," said Maloney, an original CURIA co-sponsor. "You are on a lot of agendas but not the default crisis agenda and I applaud you for that."
Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) echoed this remarks, but spiced it up a bit. "You deserve to reap rewards for your solid behavior during the Wild West period of the economy," she said. "You offered safe, vanilla, fixed-rate mortgages while others offered deals that appeared too good to be true and were."
Waters, a senior member of the Financial Services Committee, praised the efforts of credit unions to offer an alternative to payday lending and to expand access to credit for low-income and minority citizens.
She conceded that some of the subprime loans had made homeownership possible for people who had been shut out because of their income or redlining. But criticized lenders for taking advantage of people who did not know a great deal about the details of what they were signing.
"Members of Congress don't always know what they are signing when they sign mortgages, so how can we expect people who haven't been educated on financial literacy to understand it," she said in an interview after her speech.
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