The White House issued a sweeping executive order Tuesday designed to ensure that all federal agencies, including independent agencies, are accountable to the president. This includes the NCUA and CFPB. Per the action, all federal government departments and agencies under the executive branch are to submit all proposed and final regulatory actions to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the Executive Office of the President before publication in the Federal Register. The order also requires independent agencies to have a liaison to the White House. 

Of utmost importance to credit unions, the order clarifies that the president by and through the attorney general is the final arbiter of legal interpretations of statutes agencies follow. This could impact interpretations of the Federal Credit Union Act, including preemption.

The order also calls for the director of the Office of Management and Budget on an ongoing basis to:

• Review independent regulatory agencies’ obligations for consistency with the president’s policies and priorities; and   
• Consult with independent regulatory agency chairmen and adjust such agencies’ apportionments by activity, function, project, or object, as necessary and appropriate. 

“Should this executive order survive legal scrutiny by the courts, it would change the rulemaking and interpretive legal process dramatically. While we are already living in a post-Chevron world where agencies are given little deference to how they interpret statutes, this would be a totally new era linking agency action to the sitting president,” said Carrie Hunt, chief advocacy officer at America’s Credit Unions.   

NCUA rules would still have to be agreed to by the full NCUA Board.