The U.S. Congress is considering FY24 funding for the entire government, and normally it should involve just that, funding. Yet the U.S. House Appropriations Committee recently dropped its Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) bill, which includes proposals that would impact consumer protection policy. These riders take aim at the substantive work of a number of federal agencies. Here’s what it will do to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission:
First, it would strip the CFPB of its independent funding, bring it under the congressional appropriations process, and replace the single-director with a five-person commission. Second, it would bar the consumer financial agency from enforcing fair lending laws by prohibiting small banks from collecting data about women and minority-owned businesses. Then there is the FTC, whose regular rulemaking process is simply under attack in this bill. Among other restrictions, the funding bill would wipe away the FTC’s proposed motor vehicle dealer rule, and implement restrictions on a deceptive earnings claim rule and its business opportunity rule (both of which are still in the rulemaking process). Substance aside, the bill would also dramatically reduce the FTC’s budget to $53.4 million below the FY23 level and $213 million below the President’s Budget Request.
