Republican presidential candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry recently threw his support behind increasing the member business lending cap.
Speaking at the Iowa Credit Union Convention Sept. 16, Perry questioned the need for the 12.25% threshold.
"You serve small businesses, and you need to have that member business lending cap raised. That is an arbitrary number that someone said was 12%, and why it's 12% no one can answer," Perry said to more than 250 attendees at the Iowa league meeting.
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Perry commented on the difficulty small businesses are having accessing capital and said now is the time to consider increasing the MBL cap for credit unions, the league said. Such a move would inject $13 billion in loans into the national economy and create as many as 140,000 new jobs, with no cost to taxpayers, according to the league.
Perry also highlighted his support of Texas credit unions.
"Credit unions in my state generate three quarters of a billion dollars in salaries, employ 18,000 workers and provide billions of dollars in capital for families and businesses. Protecting their tax status was an important part of protecting their important economic investments," Perry said.
Iowa CU League President/CEO Patrick Jury said he's hoping Perry's attention on the MBL issue, will aid in growing bipartisan support.
"We were very pleased to hear Gov. Perry's support for raising the member business lending cap," Jury said. "This is a common sense solution that should be advanced by this Congress.
The league said a number of Iowa credit unions are at or approaching the business lending cap provided by federal law.
"Our credit union regularly meets with business owners that are being turned down for loans by banks," said University of Iowa Community Credit Union CEO Jeff Disterhoft. "Unfortunately, the fact that we are at the federal cap prohibits us from helping them. We need more leading policymakers to do what Governor Perry did today, which is shine a light on a solution that will help create jobs without any taxpayer cost."
At an August White House forum on job creation, Disterhoft met briefly with President Obama to enlist his support on raising the MBL cap. Bills pending in the House and Senate would raise the cap to 27.5%.
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