U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) said they want answers about how the National Credit Union Administration’s Board can function after illegally firing two of its three members.
In a letter to Kyle Hauptman, NCUA chairman, the law makers sought answers to how the board expected to meet its legal authority with only one member. President Donald Trump fired board members Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka on April 16.
“Despite the critical importance of a fully staffed board to NCUA operations, President Trump unlawfully fired NCUA Board Members Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka on April 16, 2025. As a result, you are the only Board Member remaining at the NCUA,” Warren, the ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and Waters, the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, wrote. “In response, we wrote to the NCUA Office of Inspector General requesting an investigation of your authority to continue full agency operations with only one Board member… The IG response included troubling information that suggests neither the NCUA or the White House understands what actions the agency can lawfully take in the wake of the firings. According to documents provided to us by the IG, ‘when there is only one NCUA Board member…serving on the Board,’ individual Board Members may ‘carry out any essential function of the NCUA Board.’”
Harper and Otsuka were the only Democrats on the three-person board. At the time of the firing, White House Pres Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the firings, saying as the chief executive of the executive branch of the federal government, Trump reserves the right to fire whomever he wants.
The Congresswomen said there is evidence to suggest the NCUA Board cannot function with only one board member, however. Regulations state the at least two of the three board members must agree for any action to be taken and that the board cannot hold meetings if a quorum is not available.
Warren and Waters asked the NCUA Chair to answer questions about the legitimacy of the board by July 7.