The House of Representatives has passed the Jumpstart OurBusiness Startups (JOBS)Act by a bipartisan vote of 390 to 23, but without any provisionfor lifting the cap on credit union member business lending.

But CUNA lobbyists explained that they had not expected the billto include any MBL provisions and have instead set their sights ongetting something included in the Senate version of themeasure.

“The legislation that passed today was a compilation of five orsix measures that had already passed the House at different timesand was thus very narrowly crafted,” explained Ryan Donovan, CUNA'ssenior vice president for legislative affairs. “House rules make itvery difficult to add anything new to a measure that has beencreated in this way so we didn't try to get MBL added to it,”Donovan said, adding, “we have friends on the Hill who are willingto help us, but it didn't make sense to ask them to do what theywere not going to be able to do.”

Instead, Donovan said credit union advocates have been lobbyingto get legislation lifting the MBL cap added to a version of thelegislation being considered in the Senate and then plan to focuson making sure it stays in through whatever process lawmakers useto reconcile the two different versions of the legislation. Should the Senate add MBL legislation to its version of the JOBSAct, it is unclear what the outcome might be, Donovan said, becausea lot could depend on what procedure lawmakers decide to use forreconciliation. “I am very reluctant to handicap it, because we arejust not there yet,” Donovan said. “But if we can get a version ofthe MBL legislation added to the Senate bill, that would be a hugestep forward.”