While lawmakers are in their districts for recess, quite a bit is still happening in D.C. John McKechnie, the Association’s contract lobbyist and our boots-on-the-ground contact in D.C., shares the latest issues impacting credit unions from our nation’s capital.
NCUA
After nearly a two-week period where the NCUA board sat vacant, John Crews was sworn in on Monday, Aug. 24, as a member. Crews was confirmed by the US Senate on Friday, Aug. 7, and his paperwork was signed by President Trump on Tuesday, Aug. 18. Crews fills the seat vacated by former Chairman Kyle Hauptman, and his term will expire Aug. 2, 2031. Shortly after Crews took the oath of office, he was designated by the President in a letter as the Agency’s 14th chairman.
Chairman Crews former Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Treasury Department, will serve as the sole member of what is normally a three-member board. Two NCUA board members, Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka, were fired by President Trump in April 2025, although both have sued for reinstatement in federal court.
Although there are no NCUA board meetings scheduled at this juncture, agency staff have said that October-November are likely times when Crews would hold board sessions to conduct the statutorily required Budget Briefing as well as a separate board meeting to approve next year’s Agency budget.
Capitol Hill
Although still on recess, the Senate is preparing to take up what could be landmark digital assets legislation. The Clarity Act, which would create a firm regulatory structure that divides oversight responsibilities between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which would supervise tokens defined as “digital commodities,” and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which would regulate “investment contract assets” defined as securities (supervised by the SEC). Credit unions and other financial institutions may be able to hold digital assets on behalf of their members under new terms set forth by the Clarity Act.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has announced a vote on the Clarity Act for Tuesday, Sept. 15, although both proponents and opponents of the legislation are unsure of its prospects for passage. Banks have ratcheted up their opposition to the bill’s language that would permit quasi-interest payments on cryptocurrency deposits, and in retaliation, several of Clarity’s Republican sponsors have signaled their support for the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA). Several Senate Banking staff have shared that the new Senate CCCA support “muddies the waters, but shouldn’t change the debate” on CCCA in the coming weeks.
Credit unions remain strongly opposed to CCCA; although the measure has no chance of passage as a stand-alone bill, it could be attached to other legislation like Clarity or one of the spending or defense bills that will be considered by the Senate in September.
Tennessee and Mississippi credit union presence in Washington next month is particularly critical to our chances for success.
CDFI Fund Leadership
The Department of the Treasury has named Tennessean Chris Miller director of the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund. Miller had been managing financial and administrative functions at Three Roots Capital, a Knoxville CDFI. As with past CDFI directors, we are already working toward establishing a relationship with the new team.
