Sen. Elizabeth Warren wants an internal investigation into the cost of a recent proposed name change to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The Massachusetts Democrat sent a letter requesting the Federal Reserve’s inspector general, an internal watchdog shared with the CFPB, look into the recent change ordered by the bureau’s former acting director, Trump administration budget chief and incoming acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.
“In addition to the costs imposed on the banking industry, the name change would also put a serious dent in the agency’s budget, taking funding away from efforts that would actually benefit consumers,” wrote Warren. “The CFPB leadership has requested a 17% cut in total funding for [fiscal year] 2019 – and these new name change-related expenses would come out of the already limited funding request for the agency.”
Warren’s letter cites an internal CFPB analysis that indicated the name change to ‘Bureau of Financial Consumer Protection’ would cost the agency between $9 million and $19 million. The same report also found that costs for banks and other companies to update their databases, regulatory filings, and disclosure forms could run as high as $300 million in total. That analysis was first reported by the publication The Hill.
Warren, who is credited with the original idea for the bureau and was the original nominee to lead it under President Barack Obama, argues that the internal cost of the name change would eat up nearly half of the agency’s non-personnel budget, potentially limiting its ability to pursue enforcement cases.
Parts of the name change, including a rearrangement of the bureau’s acronym in its headquarters lobby and a new crest, have already been made, though the agency’s website and email addresses use the old name. Last week new CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger said she had not made up her mind on fully following through on changing the bureau’s name.
