The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is not part of the federal government shutdown, and will continue to operate for the foreseeable future.
Because the CFPB is funded through the Federal Reserve Board and is not part of the Congressional appropriations process, it is not at risk of being closed during the current shutdown. Ironically, the CFPB’s funding process is something that Congressional Republicans have been trying to change for several years. Republicans want the CFPB’s budget to come under Congress’s control, so that they might have more power over the CFPB.
Much of the federal government was shut down at midnight Friday after Congress was unable to reach a deal on yet another continuing resolution, which would continue to provide the money necessary for the government to stay open.
Although the CFPB’s operation are not affected by the shutdown, the person at the top of the agency might be a little pre-occupied until the shutdown is over. Along with being acting director of the CFPB, Mick Mulvaney is also head of the White House’s Office of Management & Budget, and was actually the person in charge of shutting down the government, which he said was “kind of cool” in a radio interview on Friday.
The Senate is set to vote at noon today on a measure that would end the shutdown, but that vote is not viewed as being a guaranteed lock to pass. About 850,000 employees of the federal government have been furloughed as a result of the shutdown. About 2 million federal government employees are still reporting to work.
