The witnesses have been announced for the hearing on the CFPB to be held on March 9, 2023 by the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy. They are:
- Bill Himpler, CEO, American Financial Services Association
- Brian Johnson, Managing Director, Patomak Global Partners LLC
- Jessica Thompson, Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation
- Devin Watkins, Attorney, Competitive Enterprise Institute
- Keith Ellison, Attorney General, State of Minnesota
The Committee Memorandum was also released. It lists a series of bills to be discussed at the hearing. The bills include:
- H.R. ____, the Taking Account of Bureaucrats’ Spending (TABS) Act. The bill would bring the CFPB into the regular appropriations process and make the CFPB an independent agency named the Consumer Financial Empowerment Agency that is not part of the Federal Reserve System.
- H.R. ____, the Consumer Financial Protection Commission Act. The bill would remove the CFPB from the Federal Reserve System, convert the CFPB into an independent commission, and change its leadership structure to a a five-person commission appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to consider a challenge to the constitutionality of the CFPB’s funding mechanism in CFSA v. CFPB. One possible outcome of the case is that Congress will need to step in and legislate regarding the agency’s annual appropriations. If that occurs, the types of reforms to be discussed at the hearing could very well be on the table as Congress negotiates changes to the CFPB’s funding and authorities.