Congress would have far greater sway over the new consumer protection agency under a House spending bill.
The House Appropriations bill for fiscal 2016 would put funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under the annual congressional appropriations process. The bureau currently receives its funding from the Federal Reserve, denying one avenue of influence over the agency to lawmakers.
Subjecting the agency to appropriations is an intensely sought goal for the financial services industry and Republicans, who view the agency as too powerful and unaccountable. The bureau was created in 2010 by the Dodd-Frank financial reform law and opened in 2011.
The funding bill announced Wednesday morning by Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., contains a provision to do just that.
The proposed legislation also would freeze funding at the Securities and Exchange Commission at $1.5 billion, $222 million below President Obama’s request.
“While making good use of limited tax dollars, this legislation also makes great strides in reining in wasteful spending and stopping harmful and unnecessary bureaucratic overreach,” Rogers said on introducing the bill.
Changes to the bureau are sure to be bitterly opposed by liberal Democrats, especially by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a top Wall Street critic who developed the idea for the agency.
An Appropriations subcommittee will consider the bill Thursday. All funding legislation faces a highly uncertain future in Congress, where Democrats have staked out aggressive opposition to the spending levels contemplated by Republicans.
