Community Banker Alert

Congressman Phil English (R-3rd), a key member of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Congressman Paul Kanjorski (D-11th), a very senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, both good friends to community banks, have introduced legislation to amend the Internal Revenue Code that would clarify that Federal Home Loan Banks may issue letters of credit to support public and economic development infrastructure needs in this nation’s communities in partnership with community banks.

Our Board of Directors unanimously endorsed this initiative in our March Board meeting. At this point, we need every community banker to contact your member(s) of Congress urging them to support and cosponsor this bipartisan initiative, H.R. 5177. These letters of credit will be a great tool for Pennsylvania’s communities to meet infrastructure needs while giving community banks another opportunity to serve and work with our communities in conjunction with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh. This legislation is a win-win for all of us.

Like any proposal introduced in Congress, however, it requires political support and advocacy. PACB will be vigorously lobbying our delegation for H.R. 5177 and we have sent the enclosed memorandum to the entire delegation.

I urge every member to take the time to register your support for this proposal. We have enclosed a sample letter that you may certainly use to make these contacts. As with any communication to Congress, it always helps to personalize the letter reflecting your institution’s asset size and number of employees so that they understand the impact you have in their district.

If you need anything from PACB to make these contacts, please do not hesitate to call or email Dave Transue – dave@pacb.org. Dave is available to assist you with this or any other government-related issue.

Thank you for your valuable support and advocacy for this proposal.

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