The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is set to transfer nearly $4.7 million to the Office of Management and Budget to cover the security detail for its acting director, Russell Vought, under a hastily arranged interagency agreement that was not included in CFPB’s fiscal 2025 budget, according to a published report.
A July 18 memorandum from CFPB’s deputy chief financial officer outlines that the OMB will bill CFPB for Vought’s protection through December. Although the bureau’s fiscal 2025 budget, which was funded at $823 million under the recent cap reduction, made no provision for these costs, the agreement has been “fast‐tracked” and will draw on appropriations from both the 2025 and 2026 fiscal years. CFPB officials will shift funds into the director’s front‐office allotment to absorb the expense.
The added security expense comes on the heels of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which halved CFPB’s funding ceiling from 12% to 6.5% of the Federal Reserve’s operating expenses. That measure cut the bureau’s 2025 budget to $823 million and limits future funding requests. Vought, who declined to seek additional appropriations when he assumed the acting directorship in February, has relied on roughly $700 million in reserve funds instead of drawing further from the Fed.
President Trump and Vought have sought dramatic cuts to CFPB’s workforce and its investigative and enforcement functions, a strategy that has been repeatedly blocked by federal courts. At the same time, CFPB must now divert resources to cover Vought’s security. “The American people should be outraged that the White House official determined to eliminate the agency that shields them from financial fraud is now diverting agency resources to pay for his security detail,” said Doreen Greenwald, president of the National Treasury Employees Union.
“The members of this Administration are the most harassed, threatened, and doxed in history, largely in part because of a radical and dishonest media who claim anyone they disagree with is a ‘threat to democracy,’” Rachel Cauley, a spokesperson for OMB and the CFPB, said in a statement
