John Kennedy Tells Chief Biden Regulator Point Blank That His Agency Is ‘Operating Illegally’

Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy accused the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Rohit Chopra on Wednesday of operating his agency in an illegal manner.

The Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act mandates that the CFPB operate using funds from the “combined earnings of the Federal Reserve System.” However, Kennedy alleged during a CFPB “Semi-Annual Report to Congress” hearing that the Federal Reserve has not had any earnings and has been “losing money” since September 2022, claiming that this means the CFPB is “operating illegally.”

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“For the longest time, the Federal Reserve was earning money, but that stopped in September 2022,” Kennedy said. “Now they are losing money. They don’t have any earnings. They’re no longer transferring earnings to the general fund, and the Supreme Court based its decision on saying, this funding scheme is Constitutional under the appropriations clause, by saying that these earnings would go to the general fund from the Federal Reserve so getting them directly from the general fund is no big deal,” he added.

The Supreme Courtruled by 7-2 vote in May that the unconventional way the CFPB obtains funding is constitutional. Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the dissenting opinion that the ruling could establish a precedent wherein a federal agency can “bankroll its own agenda without any congressional control or oversight.”