A House panel approved a bill Thursday that would slash funding for financial services agencies by 9% in 2012.
The House Appropriations Committee voted, 27-21, to approve the bill, which would provide $19.9 billion in funding for the agencies, including the Treasury Department, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Securities and Exchange Commission and the Small Business Administration. It would provide $2 billion less than the government allotted in fiscal year 2011, and $6 billion, or 23%, less than the Obama administration requested.
The measure would also cap mandatory funds for the CFPB at $200 million — the current limit is $600 million — and subject it to the annual appropriations process beginning in 2013. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, the bureau receives a percentage of the Federal Reserve budget and is independent of the appropriations process.
"With the debt that we have, $200 million is more than ample, more than fair, for an agency that isn't required to report to us," said Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., the chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee on financial services.
The committee rejected an amendment from Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., that would have restored the administration's request for $329 million for the CFPB in fiscal year 2012.
"This is not the way to legislate," DeLauro said of attempts to overturn Dodd-Frank provisions. "This is simply too important a bureau to underfund."
The legislation would also limit funding for the Office of Financial Stability, which administers the Troubled Asset Relief Program, and would terminate Treasury's Home Affordable Modification Program. The measure would provide SBA more money than last year, but less than it requested.
