WASHINGTON ― Congress debates a lot of serious issues when it considers the defense budget. This summer alone, arguments broke out in the Senate over whether lawmakers should explicitly bar the indefinite detention of American citizens, provide additional protections for Afghan interpreters and require women to register for the draft.
It was a lot of activity for a body that doesn’t get much done anymore. While they were at it, lawmakers also voted to authorize free rent for banks on American military bases.
An amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act authored by Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) would exempt any commercial bank operating a branch at a U.S. military installation from the nuisance of having to pay for the real estate. Inhofe describes the legislation as an issue of fairness. Credit unions already get free rent on military bases ― why not banks?
“This provision levels the playing field to give banks the same rent-free advantage as credit unions for being on a military base,” Inhofe spokeswoman Donelle Harder told The Huffington Post. “Ultimately, the Department of Defense in conjunction with the Services create the rules and regulations for what institutions can exist on military bases.”
Lawmakers and regulators have been concerned about predatory financial activity targeting service members for years. The most persistent problems have come from payday lenders and shady title loan operators, but big banks often aren’t much better.
Last week, regulators cracked down on Wells Fargo, which operates branches on eight different military bases, for allegedly illegally evicting active-duty service members and repossessing their cars without a court order. It came just after the bank caused a national outcry for creating roughly 2 million bogus banking accounts without permission from its customers. The bank has agreed to pay almost $210 million in combined penalties to settle the cases.
In February 2015, Wells Fargo was one of five banks ― along with JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Ally Bank and Citibank ― that paid a combined $123 million for illegal foreclosures that violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. JPMorgan had already apologized for illegally overcharging 4,500 military families in 2011.
The NDAA isn’t the government’s final say on the military budget. It merely authorizes spending, which has to be appropriated by another process in order for the money to actually go out the door. The real estate handout to banks could be blocked when lawmakers assemble an omnibus spending bill to avert a government shutdown in December.
This story has been updated with comment from Inhofe spokeswoman Donelle Harder.