Hood, Harper Face Few Questions During NCUA Confirmation Hearing

President Trump’s two nominees for the NCUA board, Republican Rodney Hood and Democrat Todd Harper breezed through their Senate Banking Committee confirmation hearing Thursday.

The two faced few questions from members, with Democrats focusing on Trump’s controversial nomination of Mark Calabria to head the FHFA.

Banking Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Id.) did not indicate when he expects the committee or the full Senate to consider the nominations. However, he gave the nominees until Feb. 22 to respond to written follow-up questions submitted by senators.

Senate Banking ranking Democrat Sherrod Brown of Ohio implied his support for the NCUA nominees.

“Both nominees possess a deep understanding of credit unions and the issues that affect them,” Brown said.

Hood described himself as a “safety and soundness regulator,” adding that the NCUA should not impose burdensome rules.

In his testimony, Hood, a former NCUA board member, said that one of his “lasting accomplishments” from his previous tenure at the agency was the launch of Enterprise Risk Management Summits that provided training sessions for credit unions.

“It was through my efforts that today Enterprise Risk Management is embedded in the Agency’s supervisory and examination process,” he said.

Hood serves as a corporate responsibility manager for JPMorgan Chase, where he manages national partnerships with groups that work on community development, civil rights and with the disabled community.

He also served as the associate administrator of the Rural Housing Service at the Department of Agriculture. The North Carolina Legislature has elected him to a term as a member of the Board of Governors for the University of North Carolina College System.

In his statement, Harper said that if confirmed, he will focus on the issues of capital, liquidity, and cybersecurity, as well as consumer protection.

He also said that the agency should properly tailor rules for small credit unions.

Harper is extremely familiar with the agency and the credit union community; from 2011 to 2017, he directed the NCUA’s Office of Public and Congressional Affairs and served as the chief policy officer to the board chairman.

Before that, he served as staff director of the House Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises. He worked on Dodd-Frank following the financial crisis and as legislative director for former Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.).

Senate Republicans have been considering a rule change that would further limit debate on nominations following a procedural vote. It is unclear whether that rule change would be in effect when the full Senate considers the Hood and Harper nominations or even if the rule would be needed for their confirmation.

In a letter to the committee, CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle said that his trade group does not take positions on nominations.

“Nevertheless, given that the NCUA Board has been operating at partial capacity since May 2016, we believe it is critical for the effective operation of the agency that the Board be filled by three members,” he wrote.

Much of the hearing focused on Calabria’s nomination. Calabria is a former Banking Committee staffer.

But Democrats focused on Calabria’s writings for various websites and publications.

Brown said, for instance, that Calabria has questioned the need for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and has opposed providing a government guarantee for qualifying mortgage-backed securities.

Calabria said he now supports the 30-year fixed based mortgage, saying he has one himself.