The House Armed Services Committee should reject any bank attempts to share the land lease arrangement between the Department of Defense and credit unions, CUNA and other organizations wrote Tuesday. House Armed Services subcommittees are beginning markups of the FY23 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) this week.

“While banks argue for “parity” on this issue, the fact is that banks already can obtain leases at a nominal cost,” the letter reads. “Under the Military Leasing Act, 10 USC §2667, banks can demonstrate to DoD how they would use their lease to serve and provide value to the men and women of the base. However, banks still have not exercised this authority.

“We believe last year’s House Armed Services Committee-directed DoD study will demonstrate this fact along with the many choices servicemembers have in finding and selecting a trusted financial institution,” it adds. “However, rather than seeking a productive solution available to them under current law, the bank lobby chooses to target their long-time nemesis credit unions in the process. As such, it is our hope the House Armed Services Committee will reject the inclusion of this provision in the NDAA should it surface once again this year.”

Banks attempted to insert such language in previous NDAAs, but no provisions were included in the final bills.

CUNA coordinated with the Defense Credit Union Council and National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions on the letter.