Two nominations that are crucial to the credit union industry – including a replacement for NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz – are likely to be delayed, if not killed. The culprits are election year politics and the fight over a Supreme Court nomination, long-time Congress watchers said.

“The Supreme Court nomination will cause problems in every direction,” former three-term Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) said. “So I think it is reasonable, under the current circumstances, to expect delays.”

“They've decided to do as little as possible for the rest of the year,” said Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and co-author of “The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track.” Ornstein said he does not believe all nominations will stop, but that they will be a trickle rather than a flood.

matz and mcwatters Matz announced she will leave the NCUA on April 30. President Obama has not yet nominated her replacement and the White House did not respond to CU Times' request for information about when that might occur.

Separately, on Jan. 11, Obama announced he intends to nominate NCUA Board Member J. Mark McWatters to the Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank. Senate Banking Chairman Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) has not yet scheduled a confirmation hearing for McWatters and said he does not know when one might be added to the committee calendar.

In addition, Obama nominated U.S. Appeal Court Judge Merrick Garland for a seat on the Supreme Court last week, and Senate Republican leaders appeared determined to fight any efforts to confirm McWatters before Obama leaves office at the end of the year.

“Because of the Supreme Court fight, the partisan tone of the Senate could make it difficult for nominees to get confirmed in the short-term until after the November election,” said Ron Bonjean, who was chief of staff for the Senate Republican Conference when former Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) headed the group.

Some analysts also predicted Republican control of the Senate is in jeopardy – news that has provoked anxiety among GOP legislators.

“They're getting nervous, so it means spending more time at home,” Ornstein said.

republicans and democrats debate And Ornstein said Republican opposition to the Ex-Im bank likely means McWatters will not be confirmed in the near future.

“They do not want to touch in any way, shape or form the Export-Import Bank,” he said.

Even in the best of times, once the president nominates someone, it takes months before they are confirmed by the Senate. A January 2015 report by the Congressional Research Service, Congress' research arm, found it took an average of 151 days before a nominee was confirmed by the Senate in the last Congress.

The Senate was scheduled to take its Easter recess on March 18 and expected to return on April 4. It then was scheduled to be in session for about 60 days before breaking on July 15 for the summer recess and national political conventions.

“If you look at this year's Senate schedule … they are out by mid-July for the convention and then not back until September,” Jim Manley, a former senior aide to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), said. “It's difficult to imagine anyone getting confirmed if it hasn't happened by the time they break for the summer.”

All of that may mean McWatters stays at the NCUA and Matz's seat remains open.

“I think the odds of a single member NCUA board are very small,” former NCUA Chairman Dennis Dollar said.

Dollar said moving McWatters to the Export-Import Bank would leave Rick Metsger, a Democrat, as the only NCUA board member, but the scenario is extremely unlikely.

Dorgan said Matz' replacement could be confirmed if the nomination were paired with a Republican nomination.

“Having said all of that, you never know when there might be a burst of activity and they create a large package of nominations for action,” Dorgan said. “We can always hope that Congress starts to function the way it is expected to function.”

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Election Slows NCUA Board Decisions

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