Voter turnout for the November 2022 elections set records for a midterm, and now that all of the television ads, direct mail pieces and social media posts have disappeared, the outlook for legislative and regulatory actions throughout the next two years is positive. “The results of the 2022 midterm elections were a net benefit for credit unions,” said Greg Mesack, senior vice president of government affairs at NAFCU. When the different branches of the government are controlled by different parties, everyone is forced to work together, he explained. “This prevents excessive action because each side must compromise.” As an example of the risk of single-party control, Mesack pointed to the IRS reporting provision originally included in the Build Back Better Act that would have required financial institutions to provide information on any account with transactions of $600 or more. “This would have been a massive invasion of privacy of our members as well as an immense task for credit unions to manage. Fortunately, the provision did not make it into the final bill, but it was a single vote that stopped it,” he said. 13 THE NAFCU JOURNAL January–February 2023
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