House Conservatives: Eliminate CFPB, CDFI Fund

Budget proposal rails against ‘tyranny’ of bureau, says community development funding better left to private sector.

The House Conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC) on Wednesday unveiled an FY24 budget plan that would eliminate the CFPB and the CDFI Fund.

While many of the budget document’s proposals are extremely unlikely to become law, the RSC has more than 170 members, so it represents a powerful bloc in the House Republican Conference.

And while the RSC proposed eliminating programs such as the CDFI Fund, committee members have not been shy about bragging when their communities benefitted from the program.

Aim of the Proposal

In outlining the budget, the RSC said the proposal “offers a path to economic security by reducing tax and regulatory burdens, eliminating over $16 trillion in wasteful spending, and balancing the federal budget in seven years.”

The group added, “The RSC Budget is more than just a financial statement. It is a statement of priorities. In addition to balancing, the RSC Budget seeks to address the most pressing issues confronting our nation.”

CFPB

The document includes a variety of bills already introduced in the House—for instance, H.R. 2937, introduced by Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., which simply repeals the authority for the CFPB.

The legal structure of the bureau “is designed precisely to insulate it from political accountability,” the RSC said, in outlining its plan. “It is a design better suited for a government of unlimited powers conducive to tyranny rather than to a government of limited powers conducive to freedom.”

CDFI Fund

In proposing to eliminate the CDFI Fund, the RSC repeated the same reasoning used by the Trump Administration in their own attempts to kill the program.

The RSC said the CDFI Fund was created for the purpose of promoting economic revitalization and community development. However, according to the group, that task is more appropriately funded by the private sector—not the “woke Biden Administration.”

But that has not stopped members such as Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., from bragging when his district benefitted from the CDFI program.

In April, Langworthy announced that the Seneca Nation of Indians had received $500,000 through the CDFI Equitable Recovery Program.

“Like all businesses, the Seneca Nation of Indians faced tremendous economic hardship brought on by the pandemic and this grant will have a tremendous impact, particularly on small and mid-size Native-owned businesses, who are still rebuilding from their losses,” he said at the time.

What Comes Next?

While the RSC represents a powerful bloc of House members, the Democratic-controlled Senate is extremely unlikely to accept the group’s proposals.

Even the Trump Administration conceded that the CDFI program has bipartisan support.

In 2019, as he testified before the House Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee, then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the program does make significant impact in some communities.