WASHINGTON–The ranking members of the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee, respectively, have sent a letter to NCUA Chairman Kyle Hauptman asking for clarity around the board’s legal authority to operate with only one member, including eight specific questions for which they want answers.

Hauptman, a Republican appointee, is the lone board member remaining after the Trump administration fired Democrats Todd Harper and Tonya Otsuka in April, as the CU Daily was first to report. Harper and Otsuka are currently pursuing litigation seeking to be reinstated. 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) said in their letter, “This agency is responsible for the safekeeping of the $2.3 trillion in assets in the credit union system, most of which are the deposits of hardworking Americans saving for college, to buy a home, or saving for retirement. Credit unions currently serve more than 142 million members, and 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.”

Response from OIG

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.

The letter goes on to state, “Moreover, there is significant evidence to suggest that the NCUA Board cannot fully function with only one Board member,” the lawmakers continued. “The Board’s regulations at 12 C.F.R. § 791.2 make clear that ‘(t)he agreement of at least two of the three Board members is required for any action by the Board. The regulations also provide that the Board cannot hold regular meetings if ‘a quorum is not available.’”

Answers Sought

Warren and Waters are asking Hauptman to answer the following questions by July 7: 

• What constitutes an “essential function” of the NCUA Board? Please provide the statutory provision this authority is based on, and provide copies of all documents that include any official definition or description of this term. If no documents exist, please provide examples of past actions of the NCUA Board that have been deemed an “essential function” and why.
• For each of the eleven BAMs the IG identified as having been acted on since April 16^th, please explain whether any qualify as an “essential function,” as identified in Question 1. If you identify any of the BAMs as an essential function, please explain why. Please provide any contemporaneous legal analyses justifying this determination, including on what statutory provision this analysis is based on.
• What constitutes “an emergency situation” under the NCUA’s delegation authority? What constitutes “a state of national emergency?”  Please provide copies of all documents offering official definitions or descriptions of these terms, including on what statutory provisions this authority relies on. If no documents exist, please provide examples when this emergency authority was invoked by NCUA.

• Is the NCUA currently operating in “an emergency situation” or in “a state of national emergency?” If so, please provide all written communications and documents, including but not limited to meeting schedules, records, analysis, and other correspondence between NCUA officials, and between NCUA officials and other administration officials, regarding the emergency situation or state of national emergency.
• Are there additional delegation authorities, if any, at the NCUA relevant to the Chair’s ability to act individually in the absence of a quorum? If so, please provide a detailed description of those delegations, along with any legal analysis and statutory provisions that provide such authority.
• The IG “was informed that no one at the NCUA, including the Board Chairman and Chief of Staff, knew about the removals until after they occurred, so there were no communications between NCUA officials and the White House or other administration officials” in advance of the firings. Please confirm this. Additionally, what communications between NCUA officials and the White House or other administration officials regarding the firings occurred on or after April 16, 2025? Please provide copies of all written  communications and documents, including but not limited to, meeting schedules, records, analysis, and other correspondence. 
• Given that independent agencies, like NCUA, are now required by a Presidential Executive Order to submit draft regulations for approval by an office within  the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), have you or your staff had any communications with such White House officials about whether NCUA is able to issue regulations as a one-member Board? If so, please provide copies of all written communications and documents.
• In an email to the NCUA General Counsel and Deputy General Counsel on April 16, 2025, the NCUA Chief of Staff indicated that she wanted to “talk briefly about any risks we might face going forward” related to the firings. What “risks” did the Chief of Staff, General Counsel, Deputy General Counsel, and other NCUA officials identify as facing the NCUA in the wake of the firings?

The full letter can be found here.