FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT: CHRISTI HARLAN
Wednesday, August 4, 1999 202-224-0894

GRAMM PLANS HEARING ON EFFORT
TO IMPOSE CRA-LIKE MANDATES ON CREDIT UNIONS

Sen. Phil Gramm, chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, said he intends to hold hearings on a proposal to make credit unions comply with paperwork mandates and pass examinations similar to those required in the Community Reinvestment Act. Gramm objected to the proposal last week in a letter to the chairman of the National Credit Union Administration, Norman D'Amours.

"I reminded Mr. D'Amours that Congress specifically rejected an effort to apply CRA mandates to credit unions," Gramm said. "Based on his response, he just doesn't get it."

In his Aug. 2 letter to Gramm, D'Amours said the proposal "does not rate institutions based on performance and does not require data collection or publication." However, a draft of D'Amours' proposal says a credit union "must have and maintain, as part of its business plan, a section describing how it will attempt to serve low-income individuals" and that "NCUA examiners shall review the credit union's efforts toward performing the activities" and "may recommend appropriate actions."

"These statements are so contradictory and Congress' intent so clear that I believe an oversight hearing by the full Banking Committee is warranted," Gramm said. "I look forward to airing this issue in September."

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