Last week, the CFPB issued a report entitled “Report of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Pursuant to Section 1017(e)(4) of the Dodd-Frank Act.” That Dodd-Frank section requires the CFPB’s Director to submit an annual report to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations “regarding the financial operating plans and forecasts of the Director, the financial condition and results of operations of the Bureau, and the sources and application of funds of the Bureau, including any funds appropriated in accordance with [Section 1017(e)].”
The report covers the period August 1, 2012 through September 30, 2013. Dodd-Frank
Section 1017(e) entitles the CFPB to receive annual funding through transfers from the Fed that are capped at a fixed percentage of the Fed’s total 2009 operating expenses. If such transfers (which totaled $518.4 million in fiscal year 2013) are not sufficient in FY 2010-2014 to meet the CFPB’s needs, Dodd-Frank authorized the CFPB to request additional funds subject to the appropriations process (which are capped for each such year at $200 million). The report states that the CFPB did not request an appropriation in FY 2011, FY 2012 or FY 2013 and does not plan to request one in FY 2014.
In its fourth Semi-Annual Report to Congress issued in November 2013, the CFPB provided information on its spending through June 30, 2013 (the end of the third quarter of FY 2013). The new report updates the spending information through September 30, 2013 (the end of the fourth quarter of FY 2013). Except for that update, the new report provides no new information of significance and repackages the information (often verbatim) in the fourth Semi-Annual Report and the CFPB’s financial report for FY 2013.
