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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has introduced legislation that would reduce the statutory funding cap for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to $0.

When the CFPB was created in 2010 under the Dodd-Frank Act, the agency was designed to receive its funding directly from the Federal Reserve instead of from the congressional budget process. Cruz’s Defund the CFPB Act would effectively end transfer payments from the Federal Reserve to the CFPB.

“The CFPB is an unelected, unaccountable bureaucratic agency that has imposed burdensome and harmful regulations on American businesses, banks, and credit unions,” said Cruz. “It is an unchecked Obama-era executive arm and the Federal Reserve should not be transferring funds to it. Enacting this legislation would save American taxpayers billions of dollars and I call on the Senate to expeditiously take it up and pass it.”

The bill is co-sponsored by Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), and Mike Lee (R-Utah). Companion legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Keith Self (R-TX).

“The CFPB has long operated as an unaccountable and burdensome agency that has stifled economic growth through regulatory overreach,” said Self. “By eliminating its funding entirely, we are taking a principled stand for transparency and accountability, while restoring power to the American people and their elected representatives. This bill ensures taxpayers are no longer footing the bill for an agency that operates beyond the scope of constitutional checks and balances.”

Photo by Adam Fagen / Flickr Creative Commons