OMB is now billing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau $4.7 million for Russ Vought’s security detail. (Vought is the same shitweasel currently trying to help Trump pin fraud charges on Fed chairman Jerome Powell.) The memo, sent by CFPB’s deputy chief financial officer to staff last week, spells out that OMB and CFPB are entering into an interagency agreement to pay the costs. Via Government Executive:
The memo spelled out that the agreement was “on a fast track,” despite the funding not being included in the bureau’s fiscal 2025 budget. The $4.7 million will cover Vought’s security through December, meaning it will draw from both fiscal years 2025 and 2026. The CFO’s office noted funding will have to be shifted to the director’s front office to cover the costs. Vought is CFPB’s acting director.
Rachel Cauley, a spokesperson for OMB and CFPB, blamed the media for creating an alleged rise in threats against members of the Trump administration.
[...] She did not respond to questions regarding why CFPB was footing the bill for Vought’s security or whether the bureau’s share represented the entirety of the director’s security expense.
The added expense comes at a difficult time for CFPB’s finances. The bureau is funded as a percentage of the Federal Reserve’s operating expenses and the recently signed into law One Big Beautiful Bill Act lowered the cap for CFPB from 12% of those expenses to 6.5%. CFPB’s budget was $823 million in fiscal 2025.
