This week, Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) took the opportunity during the confirmation hearings for the Secretaries of Treasury and Housing and Urban Development to repeatedly uplift the role and many positive impacts that community development financial institutions (CDFIs) make across the country, particularly in low-income and rural communities. His prompts about CDFIs led the two Secretary nominees (Scott Bessent and Scott Turner) to praise CDFIs and affirm the critical difference they make in fostering economic growth and equity in underserved communities. To watch the relevant excerpts from the two hearings, please click on the links below:
Housing and Urban Development Secretary hearing
In August 2022, Senator Warner and Senator Mark Crapo (R-ID) created the bipartisan Senate Community Development Finance Caucus (also known as the CDFC or “CDFI Caucus”). The CDFC is a platform where policymakers can coordinate and expand on public and private-sector efforts in support of the missions of CDFIs and Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs). The extensive bipartisan representation on the CDFI Caucus will be critical to protecting and increasing funding for the Native American CDFI Assistance (NACA) Program funding in the 119th Congress, with appropriations action on the FY 2025 and 2026 budgets set to ramp up rapidly in the coming weeks.