This
is
according
to
a

report
from
The
Wall
Street
Journal
(WSJ),
and
an

announcement
by
the
office
of
Sen.
Ted
Cruz
(R-Texas),
who
is
spearheading
new
legislation.
This
would
renew
previous
efforts
targeting
the
agency
undertaken
by
Republican
majorities
in
President

Donald
Trump’s
first
term.

Cruz
this
week
introduced
the
“Defund
the
CFPB
Act,”
which
seeks
to
“zero
out
transfer
payments
from
the
Federal
Reserve
to
the
[CFPB],”
according
to
the
announcement.
Rather
than
drawing
directly
appropriated
funds
from
Congress,
the
Bureau
operates
from
a
portion
of
the
budget
allocated
to
the
Fed.

Most
legislation
in
the
Senate
requires
60
votes
to
move
forward,
and
Republicans
currently
only
have
a
53-47
seat
majority
in
the
upper
chamber.
But
Cruz
and
fellow
senators
who
are
co-sponsoring
the
bill
believe
they
have
a
tactic
that
would
allow
them
to
skip
over
that
requirement
according
to
an
unnamed
source
in
the
WSJ
report,
particularly
since
the
bill
is
likely
to
face
opposition
from
Democrats.

“Republicans
are
currently
planning
to
use
that
procedure,
called
budget
reconciliation,
to
advance
major
parts
of
Trump’s
agenda
on
tax
cuts
and
border
enforcement,”
the
report
said.
“Republicans
currently
have
a
53-47
majority
in
the
Senate.”

To
qualify
the
legislation
for
budget
reconciliation,
“any
change
must
be
fiscal
in
nature
and
must
have
a
significant
impact
on
the
budget
that
is
more
than
incidental
to
any
policy
change
being
sought,”
the
report
said.
But
there
is
an
outstanding
question
about
whether
or
not
Congress
can
target
the
bureau’s
allocation,
since
it
technically
falls
outside
of
the
congressional
appropriations
process.

A
positive
qualification
would
be
required
from
the
Senate’s
parliamentarian,
which
has
not
always
given
lawmakers
the
answers
they
want
about
what
does,
and
does
not,
qualify
for
reconciliation.
The
report
cites
2021
efforts
by
congressional
Democrats
to
raise
the
federal
minimum
wage.

But
Cruz
and
his
allies
are
determined
to
see
this
effort
through.

“The
CFPB
is
an
unelected,
unaccountable
bureaucratic
agency
that
has
imposed
burdensome
and
harmful
regulations
on
American
businesses,
banks,
and
credit
unions,”
Cruz
said
in
a
statement.
“It
is
an
unchecked
Obama-era
executive
arm
and
the
Federal
Reserve
should
not
be
transferring
funds
to
it.
Enacting
this
legislation
would
save
American
taxpayers
billions
of
dollars
and
I
call
on
the
Senate
to
expeditiously
take
it
up
and
pass
it.”