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NCUA Chairman Todd M. Harper during a meeting of the NCUA Board.
As Prepared for Delivery on November 16, 2023
Thank you, Justin, for your presentation on this final rule amending the charitable donation accounts section of the NCUA’s incidental powers regulation.
With this final rule, the NCUA is taking an important step in honoring our nation’s many veterans. Specifically, this final rule adds veterans’ organizations, as defined in the Internal Revenue Code, to the definition of a “qualified charity” that a federal credit union may contribute to using a charitable donation account.
As noted earlier, this final rule is being presented before the NCUA Board largely as proposed. What’s more, this rule makes sense and fits nicely within the credit union ethos of people helping people.
Last week, our nation observed Veterans Day, a time when we recognize and thank our veterans for their service and sacrifice. Since 1776, the United States has fought in nearly a dozen major wars — and intervened militarily in many others — with every generation of Americans witnessing combat in one form or another. Over the years, tens of millions of Americans have worn the uniform of our nation’s armed forces.
The freedoms we cherish are not simply inherited. Rather, they are earned through the dedication and bravery of our servicemen and servicewomen of every generation. Their sacrifices and courage can never be forgotten, nor should their service be taken for granted. And this is why we should approve this final rule today. In doing so, we will make it easier for those credit unions opting to use charitable donation accounts to use those funds to support our nation’s veterans and their families.
In closing, this final rule is good for veterans, good for military families, good for credit union members, good for credit unions, and good for our country. Justin, thank you again for your work on this change in the NCUA’s regulations. And, thank you to Vice Chairman Hauptman and Senior Policy Advisor Sarah Bang for your efforts in moving this issue forward.
That concludes my remarks. I now recognize Vice Chairman Hauptman.