Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton appointed Lt. Gov. Tina Smith Wednesday to replace Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) after he announced his resignation last week. CUNA and the Minnesota Credit Union Network look forward to working with her.

The Senate Finance Committee unveiled its tax reform bill Thursday, and similar to the House bill, the credit union tax status is untouched.

In recognition of his decades of service to the credit union movement, the National Credit Union Foundation has named Bill Hampel, retired chief policy officer and economist at CUNA, a 2018 Herb Wegner Memorial Award winner.

The Cooperative Credit Union Association met with each member of its congressional delegations, and attended NCUA's budget briefing and board meeting.  

NCUA posted its proposed 2018-2019 budget Friday, and will accept comments and requests to present at the Oct. 18 budget briefing. CUNA is currently analyzing the materials, which include a proposed operating budget of $298.2 million for 2018.

Credit unions scored critical wins Thursday in the House Appropriations Committee’s markup of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2018.

In addition to issuing 2 proposals, the NCUA board finalized 3 rules Friday, and heard an update on the agency’s Enterprise Solutions Modernization program. The final rules involve safe harbor, inflation of penalties and FOIA.

Jim Nussle, a former eight-term congressman and director of the White House Office of Management and Budget for President George W. Bush who was announced as CUNA's new president/CEO Tuesday, will assume his new role in Washington in the coming weeks.

In an address on the U.S. House floor that has both been posted online and entered into the Congressional Record, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) urged his congressional colleagues to advocate for legislation (H.R. 1418) that would increase the cap on credit union member business lending.