CFPB Keeps Holding On
Senate rules mean budget can't eliminate consumer protection bureau
While the Trump Administration has made clear it wants to do away with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), there appear to be some stumbling blocks preventing the easy elimination of this essential consumer champion.
Even though the “Big, Beautiful Bill” includes zeroing out funding for the CFPB, it seems Senate rules won’t allow this.
The Senate Banking Committee attempted to essentially zero out the CFPB by reducing the cap for funds that the Federal Reserve can transfer to the agency to zero percent. That’s a full defunding, and it doesn’t directly impact the overall budget, since it’s a reduction in funds coming from off-budget, via the Federal Reserve. The parliamentarian ruled that this did not have a primary budgetary purpose but was a policy move by Republicans to get rid of a disfavored agency. This isn’t allowed in budget reconciliation.
Congress can of course move to destroy the agencies it created if it wants, but only through regular order, not the special process used for budget reconciliation, which gets around the filibuster. So these measures are out of the bill.
This is good news. It means the framework for the CFPB is likely to withstand the current congressional attack.
However, it should be noted that the Administration is also significantly weakening enforcement - choosing to drop key cases against corporate bad actors and deciding not to pursue many new cases.
