Reps. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.), Deb Haaland (D-N.M.), and Don Young (R-Alaska) led 62 of their colleagues in calling on House leadership to remove restrictions on credit unions that prevent them from fully serving small businesses in their communities during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle thanked the representatives for their support.

“This letter will ensure that credit unions can be there for small businesses looking to get back to work helping Main Street communities quickly recover from this unprecedented crisis,” he said. “We thank Reps. Bonamici, Haaland and Young for their leadership in this crucial bipartisan effort.”

The bipartisan group requested that the next coronavirus response package increase the arbitrary cap that prevents credit unions from lending to more of their small business members. Currently, the member business loan (MBL) cap restricts credit union business lending to 12.25% of assets.

“Small businesses and communities around the country are suffering and need access to relief quickly,” the legislators wrote. “As you continue your work to provide funding and resources to our small businesses, we encourage you to remove longstanding barriers that prevent credit unions from fully serving their communities… Increasing the cap, or removing it entirely, comes at no direct cost to the taxpayer and would allow local credit unions to effectively and efficiently unleash more capital to provide more loans to their small business members.”