The House and Senate are in Washington, D.C., this week, and federal financial regulators--including NCUA Chairman Todd Harper--are scheduled to testify before the House Financial Services Committee Tuesday and the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Thursday.

The credit union mission is putting the needs of more than 135 million members first, CUNA Deputy Chief Advocacy Officer for Federal Government Affairs wrote to Congressional offices in advance of bank visits to Capitol Hill expected this week.

CUNA and dozens of organizations wrote Sens. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., and Mark Warner, D-Va., in support of their bill to authorize the use of remote online notarization and create national standards and protections for its use. The House unanimously passed the bill in February.

CUNA provided suggestions to improve the efficiency of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund in comments filed with the EPA Friday and called on it to provide clarity regarding credit union participation in the GGRF and requested a meeting with the EPA on the topic.

CUNA supports the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s proposed amendments to its Enterprise Regulatory Capital Framework, but is concerned validations of these methods are based on Classic FICO credit scores instead of newly approved scores friendlier to lower-income borrowers.

CUNA reiterated its previously expressed concerns with the proposed changes to the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund Certification Application in a letter to the fund Friday.

The development of a comprehensive national standard regulating digital assets will level the playing field and protect consumers, CUNA wrote to a joint House Financial Services and House Agriculture subcommittee hearing on regulatory gaps in digital assets markets.

Legal cannabis businesses need access to safe and secure financial services, CUNA wrote to a Senate hearing on cannabis banking, also highlighting its support for the SAFE Banking Act, a bipartisan bill to provide a safe harbor for financial institutions serving legal cannabis businesses.

The FHFA announced it has rescinded the upfront fees based on borrowers’ debt-to-income (DTI) ratios acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The FHFA announced in January a new upfront fee for certain borrowers with a DTI above 40%.

CUNA strongly opposes the proposed changes to the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) 7(a) loan program, it wrote to the House Small Business Committee for its hearing on the program.