{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.gallego.senate.gov/news/press-releases/gallego-fights-back-against-administrations-illegal-efforts-to-withhold-funding-from-the-cfpb/", "Gallego Fights Back Against Administration\u2019s Illegal Efforts to Withhold Funding from the CFPB", "2025-12-18", "2025", "2025-12", "Democrat", "Senate", "AZ", "Ruben Gallego", "G000574", "www.gallego.senate.gov", "gallego", "https://www.gallego.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and his Democratic colleagues filed a bicameral amicus brief challenging Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Acting Director Russell Vought\u2019s latest attempt to dismantle the agency. Acting Director Vought is relying on a fringe legal theory that has been widely rejected by multiple federal courts and former Fed officials to illegally deny funding to the agency that protects American families from predatory lenders, abusive debt collectors, and financial scams. The lawmakers were joined by former lawmakers Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Barney Frank (D-MA), who wrote the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that created the CFPB and specified how the agency is funded.\n\nThe lawmakers argued that Vought\u2019s interpretation of Dodd-Frank is at odds with Congress\u2019s plans to provide a consistent and stable funding stream to the CFPB:\n\n\u201cIn sum, Acting Director Vought\u2019s newfound definition of \u2018combined earnings\u2019 is completely at odds with Congress\u2019s plan in passing Dodd-Frank and setting up the Bureau. It undermines the Bureau\u2019s independence as a financial regulator; it deprives the Bureau of the continuous and stable funding source Congress expressly authorized; and it supports results Congress never fathomed\u2014and actively worked to avoid. This Court should reject it,\u201d the lawmakers wrote.\n\nRead the full amicus brief HERE.\n\nIn addition to the amicus brief, Senator Gallego joined his colleagues in sending a letter directly to Acting Director Vought, urging him to comply with the law and immediately ask the Federal Reserve for the maximum allowable amount to carry out the activities of the consumer watchdog agency.\n\n\u201cIt is laughable to argue that Americans should be protected from predatory lending and abusive financial practices only in years when the Federal Reserve makes an accounting profit,\u201d the Senators wrote. \u201cBut even under this discredited legal theory, there is no rationale for CFPB not to seek funding. According to both the Bank Policy Institute and the American Enterprise Institute, which have been highly critical of the CFPB, the Federal Reserve is on pace to turn a substantial profit this quarter of up to $2 billion. This amount far exceeds the CFPB\u2019s statutory funding cap. In other words, the Federal Reserve has ample \u201cprofits\u201d from which to meet the CFPB\u2019s funding needs.\u201d\n\nRead the full letter HERE.\n\nDecember 18, 2025", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.gallego.senate.gov/news/press-releases/gallego-fights-back-against-administrations-illegal-efforts-to-withhold-funding-from-the-cfpb/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.920495018362999, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}