Overview

• Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled that provisions slashing budgets for the CFPB, the Office of Financial Research, the PCAOB and Federal Reserve pay violate reconciliation rules.
• Disallowed measures include zeroing out the CFPB’s funding, cutting the Treasury’s Office of Financial Research budget, eliminating the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and reducing Federal Reserve staff pay.
• The CFPB is funded directly by the Federal Reserve and may request up to 12% of Fed profits, a mechanism Republicans say makes the agency too powerful.
• Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott pledged to keep pushing efficiency measures, and Democrats including Elizabeth Warren and Jeff Merkley vowed to defend financial watchdog funding.
• With 53 Republican seats in the Senate, restoring the contested provisions would require seven Democratic votes to meet the 60-vote threshold under reconciliation.