Thanks very much for inviting Jane and me here today and congragulations on all of the excellent work that you are doing. I come to you today not only as your Congressman, but as a proud member of two credit unions - the City of Burlington Credit Union and the federal credit union..

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What HR 1151 deals with is that current language in the “The Credit Union Membership Access Act” reads as follows; “Federal Credit union membership shall be limited to groups having a common bond.” Since 1982, the National Credit Union Administration has interpreted that language to mean that multiple groups, each with a common bond, could come together to be part of one credit union. This was important because it allowed smaller groups of employees, mostly from small business organizations who otherwise would not be able to support a credit union of their own, to combine with an existing credit union.

The banking industry was not happy with that interpretation and went to court. Several weeks ago, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court and allowed to stand a ruling that overturned the National Credit Union Adminsitration’s interpretation of the law, and brought us back to the pre-1982 situation when “common bond” was interpreted to mean only one employer, oly one geographical entity, only one associational entity.

Clearly, this was not good news for the many millions of Americans in credit unions, and the 177,000 Vermonters who are credit union members.

As a result of this on-going debate, legislation was introduced in the House, HR1151 - and I became one of the first sponors of this bill. The language in this bill is very simple. It states; “the membership of any Federal credit union shall be limited to 1 or more groups each of which have (within such group) a common bond.” That is very unambigous language and it puts in law what, in fact, has been going on for the last 16 years.

I am happy to tell you that HR1151 now has close to 200 sponsors - which is almost half the members of the House. Many members have come on board very recently since the Supreme Court decision - including Speaker Newt Gingrich - who brought a number of Republicans with him. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that the banking industry is waging a full court press - and is doing everything that it can to defeat or modify the legislation. I suspect that almost every member of Congress - including me - has been lobbied hard by the Banking industry - an industry which in the 1996 election cycle, according to the National Journal, contributed nearly 15 million dollars to members of both the Democratic and Republican parties. (They didn’t contribute to me because I don’t take money from corporate interests). The other bad news is that the Banking Committee is not as strongly supportive as the House as a whole.

On the other hand, I must tell you that the credit union movement has been doing an excellent job in rallying public opinion to its side, and in influencing members of Congress. I personally have received many hundreds of post cards, letters and phone calls - and recently Joe Bergeron left in my office a petition signed by some 10,000 Vermonters who want to see this legislation passed. And that’s pretty good.

Let me quote from a recent article in the National Journal which captures a little bit of what’s going on in DC. “The big bad bank lobby is looking a little undercapitalized these days. The most important banking bill of the decade looks like it is heading for a floor vote soon - but what bank lobbyists have to say about it seems surprisingly irrelevant. Credit unions are beating them up over legislation to deal with a recent Supreme Court decision, and even International Monetary Fund issues have given some members the opportunity to accuse banks of angling for a bailout while Asian countries and U.S. workers suffer.” That’s me.

Now, why should Congress pass HR1151. The answers are obvious. In the United States of America, every person should have the right to join a credit union if he/she wishes to, and it would be very wrong to tell millions of Americans - including many who are employed at small business - that they don’t have that right. And that’s the most important point.

People join credit union because they get a good deal.

For More Information, Visit the CREDIT UNIONS section.