Tomorrow, June 18, the House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing on “CFPB Budget Review.”  According to the memo to Committee members from Committee Majority Staff, the hearing “will examine the past and planned obligations and expenditures of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for fiscal years 2011-14, the purpose and propriety of such obligations and expenditures, and whether the absence of CFPB accountability to Congress has an impact on such obligations and expenditures.”  The only scheduled witness is Stephen Agostini, the CFPB’s Chief Financial Officer. 

As the memo details, the CFPB is principally funded by transfers from the Fed that are capped at a percentage of the Fed’s 2009 operating expenses.  As a condition for approving President Obama’s renomination of  Richard Cordray as CFPB Director, Republicans have demanded several changes to the CFPB.  Those changes include making the CFPB subject to the appropriations process.  Based on the memo, it appears the Republican members of the House Financial Services Committee intend to use the hearing to advance their demands.