Were its budget to be under the purview of Congress, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would receive $635 million for the 2024 fiscal year, which begins October 1, according to the Financial Services and General Government bill from the House Appropriations Committee. The bill would also change the leadership structure of the Bureau into a five-person commission, like the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission, while also prohibiting the Bureau from enforcing fair lending laws.
A copy of the bill can be accessed by clicking here.
Of the five members who would head the CFPB, two of them would be required to have private sector experience in the provision of consumer financial products and services. The members of the commission would have staggered terms of one, two, three, four, and five years respectively at the start, after which successive commissioners would serve terms of five years. The president would be empowered with removing any member of the commission for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.
Currently, the CFPB is funded by requesting money from the Federal Reserve Board, which is how it has operated since it was founded more than a decade ago. In that time, Republicans have made numerous attempts to shifting the Bureau’s budget to be subject to the Congressional appropriations process, and there is a case pending before the Supreme Court that may do just that.
The bill also proposes significant changes to the Federal Trade Commission, reducing its budget to $53.4 million below what it received for the 2023 fiscal year, and $213 million below the amount the President Biden requested in his draft of the budget, according to a published report
