Capital Access for Small Community Financial Instutions Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Capital Access for Small Community Financial Institutions Act of 2015, H.R. 299.

I join Congressman Steve Stivers in support of H.R. 299. My colleagues on both sides of the aisle supported this bill in a bipartisan fashion, a bill on which I am very proud to be the lead Democrat. We have worked together to have H.R. 299 reported out of the House Financial Services Committee with a vote of 56-1. In fact, last year, the same bill passed unanimously on this House floor by 395-0.

Mr. Speaker, as you have heard, H.R. 299 would permit privately insured credit unions to apply for membership in the Federal Home Loan Bank system. A primary benefit of the Federal Home Loan Bank membership is having access to low-cost secured funding, which is a tremendous benefit to consumers. H.R. 299 would not, however, mandate the privately insured credit unions to become members of a Federal Home Loan Bank. Therefore, under this legislation, a Federal Home Loan Bank would maintain the discretion to accept or to reject a privately insured credit union's application for membership based on its risk tolerance and underwriting guidelines.

Why do we need this bill?

H.R. 299 is an extremely important piece of legislation for these privately insured credit unions because it would help give members and businesses greater access to credit in a tight credit market. Currently, there are approximately 6,400 credit unions across the country, including some 128 to 130 privately insured credit unions. Of that number of those privately insured credit unions, Mr. Speaker, 57 of them are actually in Ohio. Both I and Mr. Stivers, the sponsor of the bill, are from the great State of Ohio. These 57 privately insured credit unions in Ohio serve more than 333,000 members in Ohio, and, roughly, 145,000 of those members are actually in my district.

Indeed, the Capital Access for Small Community Financial Institutions Act of 2015, or H.R. 299, comes to the floor today because of the very important role we believe that credit unions play in consumer lending and homeownership across this country.

For instance, this bill would improve access to home mortgage loans for members of three privately insured credit unions that are actually based in my district, the Third Congressional District of Ohio. Those are the Whitehall Credit Union, Producers Employee Credit Union, and the Central Credit Union. Additionally, this legislation has garnered support from the exclusive insurers of privately insured credit unions across the country--American Share Insurance, or ASI. ASI, which is based in central Ohio, which is just north of my district, continues to provide employment for many Ohioans, and it has never previously had a privately insured credit union depositor lose money.

Therefore, I urge the support of H.R. 299 because this bipartisan legislation is good policy, is good for small credit unions, and may spur the growth of small credit unions, which serve the needs of their members, both individuals and businesses. Importantly, H.R. 299 has bipartisan, nationwide support for local communities and businesses.

Mr. Speaker, I believe this legislation is a perfect example of the type of regular order, committee-driven actions that we should use, actually, as a template for bipartisan cooperation in the House and which, indeed, if enacted, would bring real benefits to the national housing market. I urge Members to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 299.

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