Crapo Supports Effort to Strengthen Economic Prosperity, Strengthen CDFI Fund

Washington, D.C.--U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), co-chair of the Community Development Finance (CDF) Caucus, joined Senators Steve Daines (R-Montana) and Mark Warner (D-Virginia), also co-chair of the CDF Caucus, to introduce the bipartisan Access to Fair Financing for Opportunity and Resilient Development (AFFORD) Act. The AFFORD Act would provide added transparency over Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund operations and strengthen its role in improving capital access and economic development in rural, tribal and other underserved communities in Idaho and across the country.

The bill would also extend and enhance the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program to enable participation by smaller CDFIs, reauthorize the CDFI liquidity enhancement program to increase CDFI lending capacity and reach more communities, and bolster the role of Native CDFIs by expanding a U.S. Department of Agriculture CDFI relending program that partners with Native CDFIs to deploy mortgage loans to eligible Native borrowers.

"The role CDFIs play in promoting economic development in rural, tribal and other underserved communities across the country cannot be overstated," said Crapo. "I remain committed to working with the Trump Administration to make improvements at the CDFI Fund to promote transparency and ensure it fulfills its purpose of serving communities often left behind by the federal government and the traditional finance sector."

Read the bill text HERE.

Additional co-sponsors include Tina Smith (D-Minnesota), Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Chuck Schumer (D-New York), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), John Hickenlooper (D-Colorado), Cory Booker (D-New Jersey), Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland), Jim Justice (R-West Virginia), Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska), Andy Kim (D-New Jersey), Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York), Chris Coons (D-Delaware), Tim Sheehy (R-Montana), Gary Peters (D-Michigan), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Michael Bennet (D-Colorado), Cindy Hyde-Smith (D-Mississippi), Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), Katie Britt (R-Alabama), Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota), John Boozman (R-Arkansas) and Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico).

Background:

Senator Crapo is the co-chair of the Senate Community Development Finance Caucus. CDFIs play a critical role in bringing capital and financial services to a wide range of small businesses and families across Idaho. Senator Crapo is co-lead of the Scaling Community Lenders Act, a provision of the AFFORD Act, which would unlock more sources of liquidity and support for CDFIs. He is also a co-sponsor of the CDFI Fund Transparency Act, which would require the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury to testify annually before the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees regarding operations of the CDFI Fund during the previous fiscal year.

In October 2025, Senator Crapo led more than 100 Republican Members of Congress in sending a letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury affirming continued support for the CDFI Fund and its role in supporting economic prosperity in underserved and rural communities.

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