‘This spigot, long contributing to CFPB’s unaccountability, is now being turned off,’ Vought wrote on X.
Office of Management and Budget chief Russ Vought, who recently took over as the acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), said on Feb. 8 that he is suspending the flow of new funding to the agency.
Vought scrutinized CFPB’s budget in a Saturday evening post on social media platform X. He said the agency’s $711.6 million in the bank is “excessive in the current fiscal environment.”
Further funding to CFPB is not “reasonably necessary” to carry out its duties, and that future funding “is now being turned off,” Vought said, who is the White House budget director.
“I have notified the Federal Reserve that CFPB will not be taking its next draw of unappropriated funding,” he wrote.
“This spigot, long contributing to CFPB’s unaccountability, is now being turned off.”
CFPB gets its financing through Federal Reserve budget requests instead of the typical appropriations process. The Supreme Court ruled that mechanism constitutional in 2024, but Republicans have long criticized the agency’s budgetary process.
The agency was created under the Dodd-Frank Act to protect consumers from predatory financial practices following the 2008 financial crisis. In the years since, many Republicans have criticized the CFPB for overreaching in its practices, accusing it of going too far with its penalties on some businesses.
Vought also sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Feb. 8, requesting $0 for the CFPB in the third quarter of fiscal year 2025. He cited the agency’s more than $700 million in the bank and said, “By law, I must take account of this sum when determining the amount ’reasonably necessary’ for the Bureau to fulfill its statutory authorities.”
Vought said the CFPB’s current funds are “more than sufficient—and are, in fact, excessive—to carry out its authorities in a manner that is consistent with the public interest.”
The Office of Management and Budget confirmed that Vought had been named acting director of the CFPB after the Senate voted to confirm him as the White House budget chief on Feb. 6.
By Jacob Burg
