美国国家公共电台 NPR Trump Administration's Latest Strike On CFPB: Budget Cuts

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MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The Trump¹ administration wants to dramatically cut funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. That's the agency created after the financial crisis to protect Americans from abuse by financial firms. Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats² have strongly defended the agency. And now critics say the administration's move is just the latest in an ongoing³ assault on the young agency. NPR's Chris Arnold has the story.

CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE⁴: The Trump administration says it wants to chop funding for the Consumer Protection Bureau by about $150 million or a quarter of its budget. That would be a disaster says Mike Calhoun. He's with the Center for Responsible Lending. He says the cuts would mean...

MIKE CALHOUN: Massive layoffs⁵ and disruptions and make it hard for it to do its job, a job that it's been doing incredibly well.

ARNOLD: Calhoun and other financial watchdog groups say the bureau has been paying for itself many times over. That's because part of its mission is to go after companies that swindle consumers and to get people their money back.

CALHOUN: So far, returning over $12 billion in relief to consumers who were treated illegally by financial companies.

ARNOLD: But some Republicans think that the bureau has too much power and that it's been using it to sue financial firms and strongarm settlements out of them, as well as being too aggressive in crafting new regulations. And at President Trump has now appointed one of the agency's harshest critics to be its interim⁶ director. As a congressman⁷, Mick Mulvaney sponsored legislation to abolish the CFP. Now he's in charge there, and he doesn't speak very highly of the agency he's now leading. Here's Mulvaney on CBS's "Face The Nation."

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MICK MULVANEY: This bureau is unlike any other federal bureaucracy. It had almost unlimited⁸ access to funds. It has no accountability to Congress. It is perhaps the most unaccountable bureau or agency there is. We want to run that place with a good deal of humility⁹ and prudence¹⁰.

ARNOLD: But critics say Mulvaney's not being humble¹¹, he's being reckless. Under his leadership, the bureau's put on hold new regulations for high interest what are called payday lenders. And it's dropped an investigation¹² into a payday lender that contributed to Mulvaney's campaign when he was in Congress. Mulvaney has said he doesn't think those contributions create a conflict of interest. Now, Mulvaney has proposed these steep budget cuts, which Democrats say they won't take sitting down.

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CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: We will fight any effort to defund the CFPB.

ARNOLD: That's Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen. He pressed Mulvaney at a hearing this week about Mulvaney's decision to drop a lawsuit¹³ against an online lender. The lawsuit said the lender, called Golden Valley, charges illegal predatory interest rates.

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VAN HOLLEN: Nine hundred and fifty percent interest rates. I mean, this is higher than the mafia loan sharks. Were you part of the decision to drop the case against Golden Valley?

MULVANEY: Yes, sir.

VAN HOLLEN: OK. I'll follow up with that. I think it's an outrageous¹⁴ decision.

ARNOLD: Van Hollen says a report on NPR about Mulvaney dropping the lawsuit prompted him to start digging into complaints about the lender. NPR reported that Mulvaney dropped the lawsuit even though the entire professional career staff at the bureau wanted to press ahead with it. Van Hollen now says he wants a full accounting¹⁵ from Mulvaney about why he did that.

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VAN HOLLEN: It's pretty clear right now if, left to their own devices, Mulvaney and the Trump administration will essentially¹⁶ turn the keys to the agencies over to the very people who are cheating consumers.

ARNOLD: As far as the proposed budget cuts, the agency gets its funding from the Federal Reserve, not Congress. But if Mulvaney tries to slash¹⁷ its budget, Mike Calhoun says Congress could act to block the move. Polls show that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is popular with voters of both parties, so he says some Republicans might join Democrats to protect the agency. Chris Arnold, NPR News.