Yesterday, the House of Representatives, by a vote of 235-183, passed H.R. 1195, titled the “Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Advisory Boards Act.”  As originally proposed, the bill would codify the CFPB’s existing advisory councils for community banks and credit unions (and rename them “advisory boards”) and establish a new Small Business Advisory Board.

According to media reports, an amendment was added to H.R. 1195 before the House vote that would reduce the CFPB’s funding.  Since we have not yet been able to obtain the amendment’s text, the extent of the proposed cut is unclear.  Based on some reports, it appears the amendment would reduce the maximum amount of funding the CFPB can request from the Federal Reserve by  $9 million over each of the next five years.  However, such reports also indicate that, according to CFPB estimates, the amendment would not only reduce the CFPB’s budget by $45 million over the next five years, but it would result in a $100 million reduction over the next ten years.

The White House issued a Statement of Administrative Policy which stated that “if the President were presented with H.R. 1195 as currently amended, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.”  (The statement indicated that the White House did not oppose the originally reported version of H.R. 1195 which was limited to establishing the advisory boards.)