The economic and financial structure of this country in combination with the Nation's natural resources and the productivity of the American people has produced one of the highest average standards of living in the world. However, the Nation has been experiencing inflation and unemployment together with an increasing gap between producers’ prices and consumers’ purchasing power. This has resulted in a growing number of our citizens, especially the elderly, the poor, and the inner city resident, being unable to share in the fruits of our Nation's highly efficient economic system. The Congress finds that user-owned cooperatives are a proven method for broadening ownership and control of the economic organizations, increasing the number of market participants, narrowing price spreads, raising the quality of goods and services available to their membership, and building bridges between producers and consumers, and their members and patrons. The Congress also finds that consumer and other types of self-help cooperatives have been hampered in their formation and growth by lack of access to adequate cooperative credit facilities and lack of technical assistance. Therefore, the Congress finds a need for the establishment of a National Consumer Cooperative Bank which will make available necessary financial and technical assistance to cooperative self-help endeavors as a means of strengthening the Nation's economy.

(Pub. L. 95–351, §2, Aug. 20, 1978, 92 Stat. 499.)

Pub. L. 101–206, §1, Dec. 7, 1989, 103 Stat. 1832, provided that: “This Act [amending section 3014 of this title] may be cited as the ‘National Consumer Cooperative Bank Amendments of 1989’.”

Pub. L. 97–35, title III, §390, Aug. 13, 1981, 95 Stat. 433, provided that: “This subtitle [subtitle C (§§390–396) of title III of Pub. L. 97–35, enacting sections 3017a, 3026, and 3051 of this title; amending sections 3011 to 3015, 3017, 3018, 3019, 3024, 3025, 3042, and 3043 of this title, section 5315 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, and sections 856, 867, and 868 of former Title 31, Money and Finance; and enacting provisions set out as notes under sections 3011 to 3015, 3017, 3017a, 3019, 3025, and 3026 of this title] may be cited as the ‘National Consumer Cooperative Bank Act Amendments of 1981’.”

Section 1 of Pub. L. 95–351 provided: “That this Act [enacting this chapter and amending section 5315 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, and sections 856, 867, and 868 of former Title 31, Money and Finance] may be cited as the ‘National Consumer Cooperative Bank Act’.”