Recognizing the 75th anniversary of the passage of the Federal Credit Union Act and the vibrant Federal credit union community that was created as a result of this important piece of legislation.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res 556 recognizing the 75th Anniversary of the Federal Credit Union Act and to acknowledge the great work of credit unions throughout the Third Congressional District.

Indiana has a long history with credit unions and in fact, was the first Midwestern state to pass a law permitting their founding. In October of 1923, the first credit union in the Midwest opened its doors in Indiana. Today there are 206 credit unions throughout my state that count over 2 million Indiana residents among its members.

The Federal Credit Union Act of 1934 was originally passed, in part, to help make credit available to underserved communities. These financial cooperatives were organized by people primarily tied together by some common bond. Today, credit unions continue to provide unique services to both their members and communities.

The Chiphone Federal Credit Union of Elkhart, IN has been providing service since 1947 and today has over 17,000 members. They have strong ties to the community and received honorable mention from the Indiana Credit Union League in both the Dora Maxwell Awards and Louise Herring Awards which recognize outstanding efforts in social responsibility and community service and the credit union that best puts the credit union philosophy in action respectively.

In Auburn Indiana, DeKalb Financial Credit Union provides both superior financial service and to support local charities through service activities and donations. The Relay for Life, March of Dimes and WFGA Kite Fly have all

benefitted from its community-oriented philosophy. DeKalb Financial serves as a drop off point for Food Bank donations and this past year provided five area students scholarships for college. In addition, DeKalb Financial continues to be a proud corporate sponsor for one of the area's National Historic Landmarks, the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum.

The East Allen Credit Union provides quality financial services for over 2,400 members. Whether it is helping its members plan for the costs of college or assisting in the purchase of the new family car, East Allen has been an asset to the New Haven community for nearly 45 years.

Financial Members Federal Credit Union of Auburn, Indiana has been delivering quality service to the people of DeKalb County since 1972. During its years of operation, it has contributed to its valued members and surrounding community by providing low-cost financial products and service activity and donations.

In Woodburn, IN, the Financial Partners Federal Credit Union has been providing sound financial services to residents and employees of East Allen County for over 40 years. Through its regular contributions to the area food bank and the ice cream socials it hosts for its members, Financial Partners illustrates the personal attention and community- oriented service that make credit unions such unique institutions.

Founded over 75 years ago, The Fire Police City County Federal Credit Union of Fort Wayne, IN not only provides great service to its members, but has won awards from the Indiana Credit Union League for both community involvement and for demonstrating the credit union philosophy in its activities. Activities such as Making Strides Against Cancer, fundraising for the Turnstone Center for Disabled Children and Adults and volunteering for Fire Prevention Week are emblematic of credit unions commitment to the community.

Indiana Lakes Federal Credit Union in Warsaw, Indiana has been delivering quality, low cost financial services to the people of Kosciusko County for over 30 years. During this time, it has proved to be a tremendous asset to its 3,600 members and has contributed to the community through various forms of service activities and donations.

In Elkhart, IN, INVOA Federal Credit Union recently contributed $5000 to Project Healing Water to assist in its mission to aid the recovery of wounded, injured, or disabled veterans by introducing them to fishing and using these skills for lifelong recreation. Credit Union employees personally raised the funds and the contribution was used to help transport and host veterans at the 2009 event along the Albany River in Ontario, Canada. INOVA is also supporting the economic growth of its community and has partnered with the City of Elkhart to provide free internet service along the downtown Riverwalk and promote future downtown development. This commitment to service is exemplified by its President and CEO, Dallas Bergl, who recently received the Indiana Credit Union League's Professional Achievement award for his support and promotion of credit union ideals throughout Indiana.

In Goshen, Indiana, the Interra Credit Union has been recognized by the Indiana Credit Union League in nine consecutive years for its service activities. These include a financial pledge of $10,000 to assist Goshen College fund the construction of a new music building, annual scholarships for high school seniors, along with regular involvement in events like the American Cancer Socity's Relay for Life and the Michiana Menenonite Relief Sale. Interra also works to improve youth financial literacy by providing lessons and educational resources on budgeting, credit, investment and savings.

For over 70 years, ITT Employees Federal Credit Union has provided its members and community with first-rate service. Its efforts have led ITT to be recognized as the best credit union in Fort Wayne by an area newspaper survey. The nearly 4000 members of ITT are fortunate to have such a dedicated organization providing them financial services.

In my District, the Three Rivers Credit Union of Fort Wayne, Indiana was honored for its efforts to help alleviate poverty and was awarded 2nd Place in the 2008 national Dora Maxwell Awards for social responsibility. As the primary sponsor of ``Canstruction,'' it brought together high school students and staff from various engineering and design firms to create giant structures entirely out of canned food. Over 80 members of the Three Rivers Credit Union volunteered for the event that resulted in a donation of 83,529 cans of food to the community food bank, the largest single donation in its history.

In Fort Wayne, IN the newly founded Union Baptist Federal Credit Union personifies the personal attention and community-oriented service that makes credit unions such unique institutions. Believing in self- sufficiency through empowerment, the Union Baptist Credit Union provides its 309 members quality financial services and is a welcomed addition to the Fort Wayne community.

United Credit Union in Warsaw, Indiana has been delivering quality service to the people of Kosciusko County since 1997. During the past 12 years, it has contributed to its valued members and surrounding community through service activity and donations.

The Weatherhead Federal Credit Union of Columbia City, IN provides quality financial service to over 2,000 members. Whether it is through financial counseling or low cost home loans, Weatherhead has been a tremendous asset to the Columbia City community for nearly 45 years.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of the legislation, and I commend my colleague on the other side of the aisle as well for his work on this piece as well and his support.

If you look to the legislation, page 2, I think this is an interesting portion and it really cuts to the quick of what we're talking about with regard to credit unions. It says: whereas credit unions operate with the credo, not for profit, not for charity, but for service and have consistently reflected this philosophical tradition and the cooperative spirit of people helping people that gave birth to the Federal Credit Union Act.

Well, when you think about it, that is exactly what the credit union industry is in this country: not for profit, not for charity but for service. And when I think of my district back in the great State of New Jersey in the Fifth Congressional District and the credit unions that are in that area, whether it was the very first credit union that I ever joined when I worked for Selective Insurance Company many years ago and the services that they provided to the employees of that company or other credit unions that have grown up over time in the various counties in northwest New Jersey and across the State of New Jersey, working to fill a particular niche for their members that perhaps were not being met by the rest of the industries for these individuals, they were doing so in a manner that was not for profit, the people coming together and saying that there is a need to be fulfilled and that they were going to make sure that they served it.

Now, it's interesting as I come to the floor here to speak to the benefits of credit unions that our country has seen over the last several decades. I just returned from meeting with officials from the European Union and also from Great Britain where they, right now, in light of all the financial difficulties they are experiencing in their financial markets, are looking across the Atlantic to see whether they can learn some things from us to see what they can do to provide, A, some services and, B, some stability to their markets as well.

And you know what the number one thing that the Conservative Party, the folks who I met with over there, said that they wanted to do and that was in Great Britain was to provide credit unions for the people of that country.

So they have a problem that's a little bit different from our country and that is that we have the traditional entrepreneurial spirit in the banking industry, that we have so many banks across the country, which is a good thing that provides services from the small individual right up to the large. They don't have it quite as extensively as we do in this country, and so they have a need even greater than we do to provide that niche marketplace for the individual.

So they will be looking to the United States to take the lead in this area and probably emulate much of what we have already learned and instituted with regard to the solvency issues and the prudential regulation issues and the like in that industry. So it's good to come back to the United States and say that in this area we have been a leader on this matter, and I stand in support of this legislation.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I now yield such time as he may consume to Mr. Royce.

Mr. Speaker, I would just close then by thanking the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce) for taking the lead role as the Republican sponsor of this legislation and also for his work in the past with regard and on behalf of credit unions as well and also for making the significant point that he just did, which is, with regard to this time of financial crisis, that the American public could look to the resounding, strong support of the credit unions. So I thank Mr. Royce for his lead role, and I appreciate the role Mr. Himes as well has played in bringing this legislation to the floor.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 556) recognizing the 75th anniversary of the passage of the Federal Credit Union Act and the vibrant Federal credit union community that was created as a result of this important piece of legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, on June 26, 1934, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed into law the Federal Credit Union Act, establishing the Federal credit union system and creating the Bureau of Federal Credit Unions, the predecessor to the National Credit Union Administration, to charter and oversee Federal credit unions. June 26, 2009 marked the 75th anniversary of the passage of that act to create a not-for-profit financial institution formed for the purpose of promoting thrift among its members and providing them with a source of low-cost credit.

Given the presence of some of the oldest Federal credit unions in my home State of Connecticut and their important role that they play in their communities, I am pleased to offer this resolution.

Today there are more than 4,700 federally chartered credit unions. Together they serve nearly 50 million Americans and have nearly $500 billion in combined assets. In my district alone, Federal credit unions serve about 60,000 members and manage approximately $430 million in assets. Private sector organizations such as Pitney Bowes, the Fairfield University employees, Arnold Bakers run Federal credit unions. The Bridgeport police, Bridgeport hospital run successful credit unions, labor organizations such as the UFCW Local 371 are running successful Federal credit unions.

In these turbulent times, the not-for-profit cooperative business model of credit unions has been an example of safety and soundness providing credit at reasonable rates and important financial services to its members. Federal credit unions continue to seek opportunities to extend crucial financial services to underserved areas. They are inherently invested in the their members and in their communities and have helped their members in these troubling economic times by promoting financial security and economic well-being for all.

I am happy to recognize the 75th anniversary of the passage of the Federal Credit Union Act and to acknowledge their valuable services to their members and communities across the Nation.

Mr. Speaker, with that I reserve the balance of my time.

I thank the gentleman from New Jersey. It's good to know that as we do the hard work of recasting the regulatory apparatus in this country, that there are models including the credit unions that others are looking to as things that we do right.

With that, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer).

I thank the gentleman for his very apt observations.

Mr. Speaker, clearly, we are in agreement here that credit unions are unique entities to be studied for the fact that they better, perhaps than other entities in our financial services world, align the interests of their shareholders with the interests of their customers, and as the gentleman from Oregon observed, are often the first point of entry into the formal financial system for families and for people who otherwise would be using informal or shady mechanisms of credit. As my friend from New Jersey points out, they're a model internationally and not just for foreign countries but for those of us who are really intent on studying how one balances prudence with the necessity for the availability of credit.

I urge my colleagues to pass House Resolution 556, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to thank the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Himes) for sponsoring this resolution. And this resolution recognizes the 75th anniversary of the passage of the Federal Credit Union Act and the vibrant Federal credit union community that was created as a result of this important piece of legislation. The purpose of this law passed back in 1934 was to make credit available and to promote savings through a national system of nonprofit cooperative credit unions.

This act established what is now the federal credit union system, and it created the Bureau of Federal Credit Unions, which eventually became the National Credit Union Administration. Its intent was to charter and to regulate Federal credit unions.

While much of the economic downturn originated in the financial crisis, credit unions, for the most part, did not play a major role in the excessive risk-taking, over-leveraging or lax underwriting standards. Unlike many of the other mortgage originators throughout the housing bubble, credit unions held most of the mortgages they originated. They held them in their portfolios. As of late last year, roughly 70 percent of credit union mortgage originations were held in portfolio with only 30 percent having been sold into the secondary market.

Because credit unions generally took a conservative approach to banking, they avoided many of the problems that we saw in other institutions. This approach has left them well-suited to play a significant role in the economic recovery.

Certainly, the 90 million credit union members nationwide will continue to rely on these institutions for their everyday banking needs. I think it is worth noting the impact credit unions have had on communities around the world. Credit unions provide a great opportunity for people to pool resources. Thereby, they create an important source of liquidity for personal or capital investment.

Serving on the Foreign Affairs Committee has given me the opportunity to work on issues impacting countries around the globe and to see credit unions at work around the globe. In this capacity, I have seen credit unions take shape and give hope to thousands looking for a better life.

Credit unions have helped and continue to help many African countries build a safe financial system for the first time. The fact of the matter is that credit unions work whether they're in Orange County, California or in Johannesburg, South Africa. They help families save hard-earned money, buy cars, purchase homes, and send their children to college. Indeed, credit unions are helping the futures of over 90 million members across this country and of countless others around the globe.

In closing, I would like to again thank the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Himes) for taking the lead on this resolution. Hopefully, the credit unions that have served so many communities around our country will continue to do great work.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 556, which recognizes the 75th anniversary of the passage of the Federal Credit Union Act.

Credit unions, not-for-profit financial cooperatives, are a form of economic democracy. Credit unions exist to serve their members, not turn a profit. Earnings beyond operating expenses are returned to members in the form of lower loan rates, higher interest on deposits, and lower fees.

While we are recognizing the 75th anniversary of the passage of the Federal Credit Union Act today, it is important to note that credit unions have been present in the United States since 1909, starting with the chartering of the first credit union in the State of New Hampshire.

As a Representative from Michigan, a State with 341 credit unions serving over 4.3 million members, I can speak to the positive impact of these vital financial institutions.

In Michigan, members of a credit union can expect to see a membership benefit of, on average, $92 a year by working with a credit union. For the average household, the annual benefit rises to $175. I know that in my district, $175 goes a long way toward covering necessary household expenses.

For a member in Michigan, financing a new automobile through their credit union produces an average savings of $156 per year in interest expense. The Invest in America program, a partnership between GM and Chrysler with credit unions, has helped to spur over 189,000 new vehicle sales. Sales from this program have reinvested over $3.05 billion in the national economy, crucial support during the current economic downtown.

In addition to the direct financial benefits that credit unions provide to their members, credit unions positively impact their communities in other ways. Credit unions put on financial literacy seminars throughout Michigan in order to educate people about their financial options.

Because of these contributions to our Nation's communities, I am proud to support House Resolution 556.

Congratulations on the 75th anniversary of the Federal Credit Union Act and the first 100 years of credit unions in America.

I urge my colleagues to support the passage of this bill.