FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oct. 3, 2023

CONTACT
Carter Dougherty
carter@ourfinancialsecurity.org

A Terrible Day in Court for the Payday Lending Lobby
AFR responds to this morning’s oral arguments in CFPB v CFSA

Washington, D.C. – Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) Executive Director Lisa Donner released the following statement in reaction to this morning’s oral arguments before the Supreme Court in the case, Consumers Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) v. Community Financial Services Association of America (CFSA).

“The payday lobby faced many skeptical Justices today as they tried to argue Congress is not able to appropriate funding as it sees fit,” said Lisa Donner executive director at Americans for Financial Reform, executive director at Americans for Financial Reform. “The reality: Many times in our history, Congress has chosen to fund federal agencies, like the CFPB and others, separate from annual appropriations. Predatory payday lenders and Wall Street lobbyists can’t change what the constitution says or nearly 250 years of practice and precedent just because they don’t want to abide by rules that protect all of us.”

In CFPB v. CFSA the Court must decide whether to overturn the Fifth Circuit’s unprecedented interpretation of the Appropriations Clause that called into question the CFPB’s secured funding mechanism and suggested it should be part of annual appropriations. Other courts, including the Second Circuit, have already rejected the Fifth Circuit’s reasoning. 

Such a ruling would undermine 12 years of consumer protection rules and enforcement actions and could also imperil the functioning of numerous critical federal agencies that are funded outside of the annual appropriations process, a step that would worsen future government shutdowns and possibly impede the operations of the judiciary.

The CFPB, created after the 2008 financial crisis, covers its operating expenses with money from outside the annual appropriations process. All bank regulators and numerous other agencies and programs likewise rely on funding outside annual appropriations, such as Social Security and Medicare. Even the Supreme Court has a history of operating on funding that does not come from an annual appropriation, notably filing fees paid by litigants. 

The Washington Post on Monday outlined the work that has made the agency popular with voters. New polling conducted by the bipartisan duo Lake Research and Chesapeake Beach Consulting and released Monday finds likely voters are overwhelmingly supportive of the CFPB’s mission across party lines (8 in 10 voters support it) and support efforts to keep the CFPB securely and independently funded. Numerous groups have expressed their support for the CFPB. The Military Officers Association of America highlighted how the agency acts as a “financial safeguard for servicemembers” and for military readiness as a result.

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