Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to include the provisions of his bill to lift the cap on member business lending from 12.25% to 25% in any job-creation bill that the House considers.
"Credit unions are already helping their members start businesses, as well as helping their members with established businesses. They could do even more if Congress raised the member business lending cap," he wrote Pelosi and House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (both D-Calif.).
Pelosi has said the House could take up a bill before the end of year and it would be funded by unused funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Some Republicans, including House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) have said the funds should be used to pay down the deficit.
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Kanjorski cited a recent letter from NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz to Treasury Department Counselor Gene Sperling calling for the cap to be lifted and noting her belief that lending limitations should be regulatory, not statutory.
Kanjorski and Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) have introduced legislation allowing credit unions to make business loans totaling up to 25% of their assets. It would also raise the minimum dollar amount for counting a loan toward the MBL ceiling from the current $50,000 to $250,000 and exempt from the ceiling member business loans made to qualifying underserved areas and to nonprofit religious organizations. It has 34 co-sponsors.
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