CFPB Gets Early Victories in Renewed Fight Over Agency Funding

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau notched two wins in Texas courts this month over the latest challenge to its funding mechanism, following its victory at the US Supreme Court earlier this year, but the agency’s opponents remain undaunted.

At the heart of the dispute is a provision in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, which created the CFPB, stating the agency can only be funded using the Federal Reserve’s “combined earnings.” To CFPB-regulated companies carrying out the new line of attack, that language means the agency can get funding from the Fed only when the central bank has profits.

Because the Fed ...