ALEXANDRIA, Va.–In response to a letter from the ranking members of the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee asking for answers to NCUA’s legal authority to operate with only one board member, the CU Daily has learned the agency has said it cannot respond due to pending litigation filed by former board members.
As the CU Daily reported here, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) said in their letter to the agency, sent in the third week of June, that the “…absence of any meaningful description of what the agency can do during periods of time when it has a one-person Board raises serious concerns and questions.”
In a statement accompanying the release of the letter, the two Democrats called the termination of the two NCUA board members “unlawful” and noted they had earlier called on the NCUA Office of Inspector General (OIG) to investigate the authority of the board with only one remaining member.
“The OIG’s response highlighted that neither the White House nor the NCUA has analyzed the bounds of the Board’s authority when there is only one board member,” the joint statement read.
Eight Specific Questions
The letter included eight specific questions to which the two members of Congress demanded answers.
But in its response, reported exclusively by the CU Daily, NCUA said, “The Honorable Todd M. Harper and the Honorable Tanya F. Otsuka filed a lawsuit related to the items about which you inquire in Harper v. Bessent…Respectfully, the ongoing litigation prevents the NCUA from responding to your specific questions.”
The NCUA letter was signed by Director Sierra Robinson.
