GOP Proposes to Subject CFPB to Congressional Funding

The House Appropriations Committee last week approved a fiscal year 2013 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill that includes a provision to change the funding source for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from the Federal Reserve to the Congressional Appropriations process, starting in fiscal year 2014.

Under the legislation creating the CFPB , the agency is an independent unit within the Federal Reserve and is funded through direct transfers from the Fed. Republicans have long held that the agency’s budget should be subject to Congressional approval in the appropriations process.

According to the CFPB, the agency will have an estimated budget of $447.7 billion in fiscal year 2013.

The appropriations bill would also require more specific reports to Congress on the agency’s activity and use of its budget.

The budget of another key financial regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, would also be slashed under the appropriations plan.