It’s also true that the organizations have not challenged the NCUA’s statement that a one-member board of Chairman Kyle Hauptman is legal.

“The agency indicates that Chairman Hauptman is equipped with the required authorities to continue implementing the administration’s priorities and continue to ensure the safety and soundness of the system,” Jim Nussle, president/CEO of America’s Credit Unions, said on April 21.

Officials with America’s Credit Unions and DCUC have explicitly pushed for a five-member board to run the CFPB for a number of years in order to keep the Bureau stable and not change priorities or directions depending on what president is in power.

Harper’s comments during the interview at the Brookings Institution were at times critical of the credit union industry in the wide-ranging discussion including: Credit union-bank purchases, credit union executive pay and credit union marketing spend. For instance, he said he believes credit unions signing stadium naming rights deals are creating problems for the industry with many lawmakers.

“I also think these naming rights are hurting the credit union movement overall reputation-wise. I have heard from offices on Capitol Hill saying ‘What does this have to do with the credit union mission? Why are they doing this? Why aren’t they paying higher interest rates on savings? Why aren’t they charging lower rates on mortgages?’ That’s what credit unions should be doing,” Harper said.

With Hauptman alone at the helm, Harper said there are numerous problems facing the agency, including dozens of credit unions in the CAMELS composite rating of 3, 4, and 5 that may not be properly monitored currently; and the NCUA facing massive workforce reductions beginning next week; therefore he said he believes there needs to be a full board to effectively run the agency.

“We’re going to be losing a significant number of staff,” Harper said. “We’re going to have to be reorganizing the agency. We’re going to have fewer examiners. Fewer examiners means less frequent exams. Less frequent exams means greater risk to the Share Insurance Fund. We need to be looking at the normal operating level and maybe setting it at a higher level letting the interest build up, as opposed to refunding that money to credit unions because there are these greater risks.”

Harper also warned that he believes the Trump administration is chipping away at the NCUA "so they can get to the Federal Reserve Board. And if you get to the Federal Reserve Board and start removing individuals, that effects monetary policy and there are great risks to the economy."

He added, "I think they are using us [Harper and Otsuka] as test cases."

Harper also addressed the looming credit union tax-exempt status issue. He said he sees a potentially rough road ahead, especially with getting support from Democrats.

“I am seeing a weakening in position on the Hill for credit union taxation,” Harper saud. “You’ve seen, for example, it was included in the list of options for what might be ways in which they pay for the tax bill going forward. You just saw a law pass in Washington State, which has both a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate that taxes transactions where credit unions acquire banks. So you’re seeing some rumblings of this ‘Don’t Tax My Credit Union’ start to break away. You’re also seeing credit unions that by recent press reports that have engaged in racial redlining, breaking down some support on the Democratic side for the credit unions and not taxing them and certainly wanting to apply the Community Reinvestment Act on them.

“You are seeing credit unions at a greater risk and the fact that America’s Credit Unions is not coming out loudly and speaking in favor of Tanya and I being restored on to the NCUA Board, is also weakening the ACU’s position amongst Democrats,” Harper said. “So I see that credit unions are in the most perilous place they’ve been on the taxation issue in the 25, 26 years I’ve worked on credit union policy issues.”

Those criticisms pushed America’s Credit Unions to release a statement in what they called a defense of the industry against “Harper’s attacks”.

Nussle stated, “The credit union industry remains firmly committed to its mission of ‘people helping people.’ While some are trying to drive a wedge between large and small credit unions, it is not asset size, nor how credit unions spend their marketing dollars, nor the size of their field of membership that defines a credit union. It is how they serve their members and communities. It is how they show up for people in difficult times.

“Credit unions serve more than 142 million Americans — military members and their families, teachers, farmers, first responders, small business owners, Main Street America. They cure banking deserts when banks abandon communities. They ensure all Americans have access to safe and affordable financial products and services. Credit unions of all sizes ensure the safety and soundness and strength of the industry.”

As far as the lawsuit filed by Harper and Otsuka against the Trump administration, Judge Amir H. Ali has adopted an expedited briefing schedule: The defendants must file their opposition to the motion by May 7, and the plaintiffs must reply by May 12. This timeline aims to provide clarity before the NCUA’s next scheduled Board meeting on May 22, a date that may be affected by the litigation’s outcome.