The new head of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, Mick Mulvaney, has requested no money at all for its budget in the upcoming year:
The Trump-appointed acting director of the federal government’s consumer watchdog agency requested zero dollars of funding for its second-quarter budget, saying he intends to first spend down the agency’s rainy day fund.
In a letter to the Federal Reserve, which directly funds the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Mick Mulvaney said the bureau does not need any new funds to operate during its second quarter. The bureau has on deposit $177.1 million to cover emergencies and contingencies, which Mulvaney says is too large. He said he intends to spend that down by roughly $145 million.
Since he’s been there he has also killed regulation of payday lenders, invited Wall Street into its regulation process, and dropped a lawsuit against predatory lenders.
The CFPB is a dead man walking.