On June 16, the Congressional Research Service updated a report on the CFPB’s budget to include the funding proposals by the Senate Banking Committee and the House Committee on Financial Services in H.R. 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
As previously covered by InfoBytes, the Senate Committee inserted a provision into the H.R. 1 reconciliation bill that would reduce the CFPB’s funding cap from 12 percent to 0 percent of the Fed’s profits.
The updated report also noted the version of H.R. 1, as passed by the house on May 22, would (i) reduce this funding cap from 12 percent to 5 percent, (ii) restrict the use of the Civil Penalty Fund solely to payments for victims directly affected by specific enforcement actions, departing from current practices that allow the funds to be used in other cases or for consumer education and financial literacy, and (iii) limit the total unobligated balances that the CFPB could hold in the Bureau Fund. If passed in its current form, the reconciliation bill would reduce the CFPB’s funding cap from $823 million to $249 million for FY 2025, which, according to the Congressional Budget Office, would reduce the deficit by approximately $3.9 billion over 10 years.
The updated report also included several CFPB budget reforms proposed by lawmakers, including (i) making the CFPB a congressionally appropriated agency, similar to the SEC and CFTC and most other nonfinancial agencies, (ii) reducing the salaries of CFPB employees, and (iii) eliminating the CFPB entirely.
[View source.]
