House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris (R-MD) and Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN) cheered Acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Russ Vought’s efforts to ensure that the Bureau is accountable to the American people by ending unlawful funding through the Federal Reserve.
Last week, the CFPB filed a notice with a court in NTEU v. Vought that the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) determined that the Bureau may not legally request funds at this time from the Federal Reserve under Dodd-Frank.
The Justice Department legal office found that the Federal Reserve lacks “combined earnings” from the CFPB, as stipulated by the Dodd-Frank law. OLC opinions are binding for executive agencies, including the Bureau. Its funding would continue through the end of the year.
Harris told Breitbart News in a written statement, “The CFPB’s funding scheme under Dodd-Frank is broken and cannot be patched. The agency simply has no lawful source of money and at this point, it’s time to end this unaccountable agency and return financial oversight to a transparent, constitutional process.”
Stutzman, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, cheered this move, believing it would ensure more accountability. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who came up with the idea of the CFPB, helped design to make it less accountable to Congress, and thus, the American people.
“Since its creation, the CFPB has morphed into an unaccountable bureaucracy with little transparency, sweeping authority, and a history of prioritizing politics over sound policy,” the Hoosier conservative told Breitbart News in a statement.
“We have seen time and time again how Democrats have used the CFPB to upend well-functioning markets and hinder consumer financial freedom. I am in full agreement with OMB Director Vought’s efforts to ensure the Bureau is accountable to the American people and will continue to support policies that promote competition and deliver better outcomes for all Americans.”
The CFPB relies on Federal Reserve transfers for funding instead of congressional appropriations. Although the Big Beautiful Bill could not entirely eliminate the CFPB, Trump’s signature legislation this term cut the annual budget cap from 12 to 6.5 percent of the Fed’s operating expenses.
The Trump administration, as well as the OMB and CFPB teams, have worked to unwind the CFPB’s ability to attack American businesses by engaging in “regulation by enforcement.”
Mark Paoletta, chief legal officer for the CFPB, told Breitbart News, “The most important thing that we should be doing right now for liberty, the rule of law, consumers, and the business of America is to shut down these cases.”
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