Watchdog Group Reacts to Supreme Court Ruling on CFPB Constitutionality

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kara Zupkus, (224) 456-0257

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s funding mechanism, which allows the agency to requisition funds outside the standard congressional appropriations process. The majority held that the Dodd-Frank Act satisfies the Appropriations Clause’s requirements. 

In response, Taxpayers Protection Alliance Foundation (TPAF) President David Williams offered the following comment:

“Today’s Supreme Court decision amplifies the need for immediate legislative action to reign in the rogue CFPB. While not the ruling many critics of the agency were hoping for, the Supreme Court’s decision underscores the fact that Congress is ultimately in the driver’s seat when it comes to appropriations and oversight. What’s more, the ruling does not touch on – nor does it diminish – the CFPB’s recent lawless conduct. Congress must now become far more serious about taking active steps to curb the CFPB’s excesses and abuses.

“While the Supreme Court ruled that the CFPB’s funding mechanism is constitutional, Congress unquestionably possesses to power to alter it in a manner that reestablishes accountability to the people’s democratically elected representatives. The constitutional principle of the legislative branch maintaining the power of the purse was not refuted today. It is up to Congress (the legislative body, and the constitutionally preeminent branch of government) to roll up its sleeves and do the difficult work of correcting its past mistakes. As long as the CFPB remains untethered from Congress, the more opportunity for agency abuse and mission creep.”

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The Taxpayers Protection Alliance Foundation (TPAF) is a non-profit non-partisan organization dedicated to educating the public through research, investigative reporting, and analysis about the effects of excessive taxation and spending by all levels of government. TPAF educates the public about government transparency and openness in the United States and around the world.