Mick Mulvaney is making sure the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is doing its part in reining in the federal deficit.
Mulvaney, the acting director of the CFPB, sent a letter to Janet Yellen, the chairwoman of the Federal Reserve Board yesterday, telling her that the agency will not need any money from the Fed for the second quarter of the 2018 fiscal year. How will the CFPB operate without any money? It will use an emergency fund of $177 million that former director Richard Cordray had kept for a rainy day.
The CFPB had asked for $217 million in the first fiscal quarter of 2018, and $87 million in the quarter before that. But Mulvaney said in the letter than the $177 million in the bank was more than enough to make sure the CFPB is maintaining its mission. Mulvaney estimated that the CFPB would need $145 million to operate during the current three-month period.
“While this approximately $145 million may not make much of a dent in the deficit, the men and women at the Bureau are proud to do their part to be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars,” Mulvaney wrote.
The lack of a budget request is being seen as another sign that Mulvaney is planning on having the CFPB do less than it did under Cordray, at least until President Trump nominates a permanent director.
Mulvaney has canceled a survey related to debt collection disclosures, instituted a hiring freeze, and announced a comprehensive review of all the agency’s supervisory and enforcement prerogatives.
