Legislative Update with Jay Kruse

Be sure to get your Holiday Raffle tickets in by December 15 for the prize drawing! Plus, Senators Thune and Cramer speak out against Postal Banking. 

by Jay Kruse, Chief Advocacy Officer

Holiday Raffle has ended – be sure to get your tickets to DakCU office now!
Can you believe how fast November flew by? December 1st marked the final day to purchase CUPAC/CULAC Holiday Raffle tickets. This short one-month sweepstakes ran throughout the month of November and the prize drawings will be held on Wednesday, December 15, 2021 at 3:00 p.m. (CST) and results will be posted on our website here.

$5,000 in prizes will be awarded, including one Grand Prize of $1,000! We will have a total of 16 winners again this year. In addition to the Grand Prize winner, we will be drawing for five (5) $500 gift cards; five (5) $200 gift cards; and five (5) $100 gift cards.

Thank you to our many credit union sponsors who graciously made prize contributions and supported this important fundraiser. Your support and leadership are greatly appreciated! Also, don’t forget to get your sold ticket stubs in the mail and over to our Bismarck office before Dec. 15th!

Contributions to CUPAC/CULAC are used to support credit union friendly candidates in their bids for state and federal office. CUPAC is the state Political Action Committee (PAC) for Dakota Credit Union Association. Each GAC operates and manages their CUPAC accounts. CULAC is the federal Legislative Action Council for the Credit Union National Association (Credit Union Legislative Action Council) and is the national PAC that contributes to our federal candidates with heavy input from the Credit Union Association. Money raised from the raffle may also be used to help with the DakCU Legislative Social costs.  

Senators Thune and Cramer speak out against Postal Banking.
Congress has been busy over the last few months debating a number of issues that could potentially be included in legislation that will be considered as part of the budget reconciliation process. While we are not completely out of the woods yet, credit unions lead the charge in defeating the extremely concerning IRS Reporting proposal, sending hundreds of thousands of messages to Capitol Hill.

Another issue we are keeping our eye is Postal Banking. This is one of those proposals that we like to refer to as “a solution in search of a problem.” Getting more involved in banking services definitely isn’t the answer to resuscitating the U.S. Postal Service, and Senators John Thune (R-SD) and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) appear to agree.

In mid-November both Senators added their names to a sign-on letter to the Postmaster General of the United States, Louis Dejoy, stating their concern with the U.S. Postal Service’s new pilot program that will expand postal service to include limited check cashing services. The letter states, “This untested program raises serious questions about whether these activities waste taxpayer resources without any commensurate benefit.”

The letter goes on to point out, “The Postal Service’s misguided expansion into consumer financial services raises the troubling possibility of government-run banking in the future. This suggestion is not merely theoretical; one recent legislative proposal would have authorized the Federal Reserve to establish retail bank accounts accessible through the Postal Service.7 This radical expansion of the government’s role in providing financial services is equally unnecessary and ill-advised.”

We do not believe a Postal Banking proposal will be included during the budget reconciliation process this year, but this issue isn’t going away any time soon. We definitely appreciate the Senators leadership on the topic, as I anticipate we will be talking more about it in person with the entire Dakotas’ congressional delegation at our Hike the Hill meetings taking place in March during the 2022 CUNA GAC.
​
Have a great week, and as always, don’t hesitate to contact me with any advocacy concerns.