Three members of the House Committee on Financial Services have sent a letter dated May 2, 2012 to Director Cordray to express their dissatisfaction with Mr. Cordray’s March 26 response to their February 22 written request for budget information. That information was sought as a follow up to Director Cordray’s testimony to the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations on February 15, 2012.
Authored by Randy Neugebauer, Chairman of the Subcommittee, Michael Fitzpatrick, Vice-Chairman of the Subcommittee, and James Renacci, the letter asserts that that “the CFPB has been wholly unresponsive” to their information request. The letter stresses the need to monitor the CFPB’s budget, noting that “every dollar the Fed sends to CFPB is one less dollar that can be used toward deficit reduction.”
The letter renews the Committee’s request for copies of any financial operating plans and forecasts, which the letter indicates are not interchangeable with the CFPB’s FY 2013 Budget Justification referred to by Director Cordray in his March 26 response. In its February 22 letter to Director Cordray, the Committee had expressed its view that the Budget Justification “lacked sufficient detail and was unnecessarily vague.” In the May 2 letter, the Committee states that Mr. Cordray’s response that the justification was substantially similar to other non-appropriated banking regulators represented an “inapposite” comparison because the budgets of non-appropriated banking regulators “do not affect the national debt.”
The letter also seeks (1) release of the CFPB’s written performance measures on or before July 21, 2012, (2) the CFPB’s agreement to provide transfer requests to Congress 48 hours prior to officially requesting a transfer of funds from the Fed, (3) a detailed construction and rehabilitations budget for the CFPB’s DC offices, and (4) written specifics on the CFPB’s “detailed process” for determining employment needs. Director Cordray is asked to provide the requested information by May 16.