Democratic House members won’t pick a successor to retiring Rep.Barney Frank (D-Mass.) in the top spot on the House FinancialServices Committee for a year, and it’s far from a sure thing thatthe member next in line, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), will getthe nod.

She is currently the subject of an investigation by the HouseCommittee on Standards of Official Conduct for having soughtfinancial aid to a Boston community bank that had her husbandon its board. There is no timetable for the panel to complete itsinvestigation, and if the panel concludes there was any wrongdoing,it could reduce her chances to succeed Frank.

Waters is a supporter of credit unions and a co-sponsor oflegislation to raise the cap on member business loans. At a recenthearing on a bank regulatory relief bill, she declared herself asupporter of credit unions and community banks and said she wantedboth to do even more to spur job creation.

CUNA Senior Vice President Ryan Donovan said that Waters is“very supportive of what credit unions do in serving theunderserved. We have a good relationship with her, and she’s alwayswilling to listen.”

NAFCU Vice President Brad Thaler said while it is a it was tooearly to know who might become the top Democrat on the panel,Waters has had a good record on credit union issues. He also saidthat Waters has been keenly interested in issues surroundinggovernment-sponsored enterprises such as Fannie Mae and FreddieMac, and those issues will likely be top priorities for thepanel.

Frank, who announced on Nov. 28 that he won’t seek re-election next yearto the seat he has held since 1981, has been a supporter of Fannieand Freddie. However, there have been calls by members of bothparties to overhaul the housing finance system in light of theproblems with the GSEs that resulted in their being conserved bythe federal government in 2008.

Frank’s best known achievement was last year’s financialoverhaul bill. The Dodd-Frank bill passed mostly along party linesand was pushed by the Obama administration as part of its responseto the financial crisis that it inherited. CongressionalRepublicans have said they want to repeal the measure, which theysay imposes too much of a regulatory burden on businesses andstifles job creation. Even if lawmakers are successful in doingthat, President Obama has vowed to veto any such measure.

However, if Republicans keep control of the House, gain afilibuster-proof majority in the Senate and win the White House,the law could be in trouble.

Decisions about the chair or ranking minority members ofcommittees are made by the Democrats’ Steering and Policy Committeeusually during the lame duck session that follows an election. Thefull Democratic caucus must ratify the decision.

If the panel decides to bypass Waters, next in line is Rep.Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), who is also supportive of credit unions.She was the key author of legislation that Congress passed in 2009overhauling credit card rules, including requiring additionaldisclosures to consumers.

After Maloney, the next ranking member is Rep. Luis Gutierrez(D-Ill.), who has been interested in issues relating to serving theunderserved.

Donovan said it is possible the Democrats could circumventseniority and go with Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.), who is the No. 6Democrat on the panel.

“Any discussion of possible successors [to Frank] that doesn’tinclude Watt would be incomplete. He is regarded by many as one ofthe members on the same par intellectually as is Frank,” Donovansaid.

Gutierrez, Maloney and Watt have all received campaign contributions fromcredit union political action committees. None is a co-sponsor ofthe legislation to raise the cap on member business loans.

Frank became the ranking Democrat on the House FinancialServices Committee after losing his chairmanship when his partylost the majority last year. He was chairman from 2007 to 2011.

The areas of the Dodd-Frank bill with the greatest impact oncredit unions are the creation of the Consumer Financial ProtectionBureau and the granting of the power to regulate interchangefees to the Federal Reserve.

The CFPB, an independent agency housed in the Fed, is mandatedby the bill to issue at least 24 sets of rules, according to ananalysis by the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell. All creditunions have to comply with the bureau's rules and regulations, butthe bureau itself only handles the enforcement at credit unionswith assets of more than $10 billion. During Frank’s tenure, he’sexpressed support for the work of credit unions and said that ifall financial institutions had acted as responsibly as most creditunions did there would not probably have been a financialcrisis.