Acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) chief, Mick Mulvaney, just made a request virtually unheard of in Washington, D.C. – he asked for no money from the Federal Reserve.
That’s no money. As in $0, zero, zilch, nada.
Perhaps even more shocking is the reasoning behind the request. The CFPB already has enough money to cover their bills.
Mulvaney made his zero dollar play in a letter to Federal Reserve Chair Janet L. Yellen, who funds the bureau.
“This letter is to inform you that for the second quarter of fiscal year 2018, the bureau is requesting $0,” Mulvaney wrote.
Budget request from the director of the federal government’s consumer watchdog agency: $0. @AP reports. https://t.co/MMpW5JcTDU
— AP Business News (@APBusiness) January 18, 2018
The agency, created by former President Obama and Senator Elizabeth Warren, typically operates on a budget of $145 million per quarter. Mulvaney had been informed that the bureau’s balance had exceeded $177 million. Thus, no need for new funding.
“I have been assured that the funds currently in the bureau fund are sufficient for the bureau to carry out its statutory mandates for the next fiscal quarter while striving to be efficient, effective and accountable,” he said.
NEW: Mick Mulvaney, whose appointment to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau generated significant controversy last year, requests no new funding for the bureau, arguing money on hand is sufficient to cover the next quarter’s expenses. pic.twitter.com/IwybeksuwT
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) January 18, 2018
The agency was reportedly being used as a ‘slush fund’ for liberal causes. Under the previous director’s purview, the CFPB collected fines from financial institutions and redistributed them to victims and educational programs.
Millions were set aside for those ‘educational’ purposes, but consumer watchdogs pointed out that a good chunk of the money was, in one case, provided to media consulting firms that created ads for Obama and Hillary Clinton.
The Competitive Enterprise Unit stated that “the CFPB has abused its power to penalize lawbreakers to establish a fund it has used for political purposes.”
The fines @CFPB collected were lining the pockets of left-wing interest groups, not helping consumers. Very disturbing.https://t.co/cRPOuWtJHL
— Steve Forbes (@SteveForbesCEO) January 11, 2018
“The agency has leaned left since its creation and has been a Democratic Party donor bank,” the Washington Examiner reported, “with its bureaucrats writing checks to liberals at a rate of 593 to one Republican, including $46,611 to Clinton, $13,190 to Warren, and $19,988 to Obama.”
Mulvaney is on record calling the Bureau a “joke,” and said that he doesn’t believe it should even exist.
With his $0 request, it appears Mulvaney is further shutting off the Democrat ‘slush fund’ spigot altogether.
Do you applaud this move? Tell us what you think in the comments section below!
