Warren, Waters Seek Probe of Trump’s NCUA Board Firings (1)

Democratic lawmakers are asking the National Credit Union Administration’s inspector general to investigate the firing of two Democratic board members and whether the agency is completely operational without a full board.

The April 15 firings of NCUA board members Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka were part of President Donald Trump’s effort to “skirt the rule of law, undermine independent agencies, and illegally purge the government of those who work for the American people,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said in a Tuesday letter to NCUA Inspector General James Hagen.

“The President’s actions threaten to paralyze the Board, create unnecessary legal risk for the agency, and harm the stability of our nation’s credit union system,” the lawmakers said in the letter obtained by Bloomberg Law.

Warren is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee and Waters the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee.

The NCUA declined to comment. The inspector general’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Warren and Waters say there’s a risk that any substantive actions undertaken by NCUA Chairman Kyle Hauptman, a Republican appointee, would be invalid because of a lack of a quorum on the NCUA’s three-member board.

They want Hagen to provide any written communications between the NCUA and the White House regarding the firings of Harper and Otsuka, including analysis of the agency’s ability to function without at least two sitting board members, according to the letter.

“If no analysis was conducted, why not?” the lawmakers wrote. “How does the OIG believe the lack of analysis affects legal and other risks for the agency?”

The Democratic lawmakers are also seeking information about the legality of any actions the NCUA board has undertaken since Harper and Otsuka’s firings.

The NCUA is scheduled to have a board meeting on May 22 that will include an update on the agency’s voluntary separation program.

The NCUA had set a target of 217 employees either agreeing to a buyout or retiring early as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to slash the federal government. The agency has already surpassed that number.

Hauptman said in a video posted April 25 on LinkedIn that the NCUA is working to “build a more streamlined agency focused on executing our core mission” of protecting the federal credit union system.

“Stakeholders can rest assured that NCUA is continuing to do the job that Congress demands of us and the American people expect,” he said in the video.

Harper and Otsuka aren’t sure of that. The two board members on Monday sued to block their firings, saying they had not been provided reasons for their terminations.

Harper and Otsuka said that the NCUA can’t function properly without a bipartisan, three-member board.