The Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has has requested a $145 million transfer from the Federal Reserve to fund the agency for the second quarter of fiscal 2026.
The request on Jan. 9 by Russel Vought comes after a federal judge’s order that CFPB funding cannot lapse and keeps the agency afloat and operating despite efforts by the Trump administration to shrink the CFPB.
The CFPB is funded via periodic Fed transfers and Vought’s $145 million request, the first he has made, would cover the quarter ending in March. The New York Times noted that Vought, who also runs the White House budget office, has pressed to shut down the CFPB and publicly predicted it could close “within the next two, three months.” Congress would have to act for that to happen, however.
The Times said U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson rejected Vought’s claim that the Federal Reservce did not have “combined earnings” to fund the bureau, and reported that bank examinations have stopped and the full D.C. Circuit will hear an appeal next month over whether Vought can cut the workforce.
Judge’s Ruling Ensures CFPB Will Continue Operating
In December, Berman Jackson wrote in her ruling that this “would be tantamount to closing what is left of the Bureau.” The ruling upholds an earlier injunction from Jackson to ensure the agency would continue to exist as congressionally mandated, and to stop efforts to shutter the agency, including via layoffs.
Separately in December a coalition of 21 states and the District of Columbia joined together for a lawsuit to prevent the defunding of the agency. They argued that the administration is too narrowly interpreting which Fed funds can be used to support the agency — that they don’t have to be profits, NPR reported.
The Times reported said that Vought’s request is a bit more than half of what the bureau previously needed to run a quarter.
Vought’s letter to Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell describes the request as legally required: “The Consumer Financial Protection Act requires the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to transfer each quarter an ‘amount determined by the Director to be reasonably necessary’ ‘from the combined earnings of the Federal Reserve System’ … [and] I have determined that $145,000,000.00 is the amount necessary to carry out the Bureau’s authorities for the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2026.”
There also have been reports of signs of a narrower CFPB agenda, including dismissed or de-prioritized matters affecting areas such as BNPL and remittance transfers.
The post Vought Makes Request for $145M in CFPB Funding first appeared on The MortgagePoint.
