Together We Move

In a little over a month, MCUL’s advocacy team and I are heading to Washington, D.C. for America’s Credit Unions’ 2025 Governmental Affairs Conference (GAC), and joining us are 135 fellow Michigan credit union professionals, passionate to be heard by our lawmakers and regulators.

What’s special about this event, coming so early in the year, is that it gives us a chance as both a national and state movement to hit the ground running on our priorities.

Among them, is the incoming administration’s potential extension of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Once again, our movement has found itself on a list of possible "offsets" to fund these extensions. This isn't the first time our not-for-profit tax status has been questioned, and it won’t be the last. That’s why we’re doubling down on our advocacy to protect it.

In DC, we’ll continue to define the CU Difference, and why our tax status is integral to what we do. Our members — families, small businesses, and communities across Michigan — depend on the value we provide because of this difference. 

We’ll be looking for commitments from our congressional delegation to oppose any efforts to change our tax status, because we know that any proposed changes, no matter the size of the credit union, would threaten our ability to keep costs low for members, provide vital financial education and reinvest in local communities. 

Also on our mind is the re-introduction of the Credit Union Board Modernization Act, which we’ve been working on with Rep. Huizenga. The passing of this would go a long way to giving credit unions more time to focus on doing what they do best: serve the community.

And, while Interchange may have lost a bit of steam recently, the MCUL advocacy team and our fellow advocates haven’t lost sight of the issue. It wouldn’t surprise us if Interchange was reintroduced or added to a must-pass piece of legislation this year or next year, so we’ll also continue to articulate why any movement on the issue would be detrimental to consumers.

It fills me with pride to be joined by so many of my colleagues who, like me and my team at MCUL, are determined to make 2025 a year of impactful advocacy and meaningful progress.

See you in DC!

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