The globe on a pile of money
America’s Credit Unions called on Congress to allocate $50 million in Fiscal Year 2026 for international cooperative development, emphasizing the critical role credit unions play in global economic stability and crisis recovery.
In a letter sent Thursday to Senate and House appropriators, including Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) and Lois Frankel (D-Fla.), America’s Credit Unions stressed that the Cooperative Development Program (CDP) has a “clear and direct relationship to our national security” by promoting self-reliant economies and reducing reliance on adversarial foreign loans.
Recommended For You
“Credit union efforts through Cooperative Development Program funding support economic stability and contribute to stemming migration,” Jim Nussle, president/CEO of America’s Credit Unions, wrote. “This is not a political position. Credit unions are not an arm of any government, but instead they embrace their philosophy of ‘people helping people.’”
The letter detailed the work of the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU), which has provided nearly 300 development programs since 1971 in countries across Africa, Latin America and Asia. It highlighted WOCCU’s current involvement in Ukraine, where credit unions are helping improve food security, expand mobile financial access, and support small-scale farmers and artisans.
Credit unions, Nussle noted, “become a source of community stability” during crises. The CDP, he argued, enables cooperative systems to provide financial services in ways that promote local ownership, sustainability and long-term recovery.
“We respectfully request that Congress continue to appropriate funding for international cooperative development efforts,” the letter concluded.
© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Michael Ogden
Editor-in-Chief at CU Times. To connect, email at [email protected]. As Editor-in-Chief of CU Times since 2016, Michael Ogden has led the editorial team in all aspects of content strategy and execution, including the creation of the publication’s exclusive and proprietary research database of the credit union industry’s economic landscape. Under Michael’s leadership, CU Times has successfully shifted to an all-digital editorial product with new focuses on the payments, fraud, lending and regulatory beats. Most recently, he introduced a data-focused editorial product for subscribers that breaks down credit union issues into hard data, allowing for a deeper and more factual narrative for readers. In 2024, he launched the "Shared Accounts With CU Times" podcast, which offers a fresh, inside-the-newsroom perspective through interviews with leaders from the credit union industry and the regulatory world. He dives into pressing credit union issues, while revealing the personalities working behind-the-scenes to push the credit union world forward. His background includes years as a radio and TV anchor/reporter and a public relations and digital/social media manager, where he covered the food and music industries, as well as cooperatives and credit unions. Over the years, he has launched numerous exclusive video and podcast series, including a successful series of interactive backstage interviews with musicians at music festivals, showcasing his social media and live streaming production skills.
