White House Confirms Obama Will Veto Bill Due To Funding Concerns For U.S. Consumer Watchdog
The White House recently confirmed that President Barack Obama will most likely veto the bill that requires the U.S. consumer watchdog to form expert advisory groups because they expect the legislation to reduce the level of funding to the agency. The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has formed a number of special committees to provide expert advice on credit unions and community banks.
The current legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives will make such groups mandatory, thereby creating another panel of small business leaders. This proposal initially received bipartisan support but then a Republican-backed amendment was added to the legislation asking for the consumer bureau’s budget cap to be lowered between 2020 and 2025. The White House has made it clear it will not accept any such reductions and Barack Obama will veto the bill in order to ensure it does not get passed.
A representative for the White House released a statement which read “These reductions to the caps could result in, among other things, undermining critical protections for families from abusive and predatory financial products”.
The consumer bureau was created by Congress as a part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial oversight law. The bureau receives its funding directly from the Federal Reserve and does not have to subject itself to the usual appropriations process. The House is expected to debate the bill on the 28th of April and will most likely make a decision on the 29th of April. It will then go to the Senate for review before finally coming to President Obama’s table.