A vivid partisan divide appeared again this week when the U.S. House Financial Services Committee approved a measure that would place budget appropriations for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau within Congressional jurisdiction.

The committee approved what is being called the Taking Account of Bureaucrats’ Spending Act by a vote of 33-20 with the entire opposition tally coming from Democrats.

A committee news release explained the measure sponsored by Rep. Andy Barr, a Kentucky Republican, would make the CFPB “accountable to taxpayers” and would ensure “effective” oversight by Congress. 

Lawmakers in favor of the legislation contend drafters of Dodd-Frank Act “purposely” made the bureau exempt from oversight and the normal checks and balances of the budget and appropriations process.  As a result, House Financial Services Committee chairman Jeb Hensarling insisted CFPB director Richard Cordray can spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year with no oversight or control from Congress, the president or any executive branch agency or official.

“Every government agency should be accountable to the elected representatives of ‘We the People’ and the CFPB should not be an exception to that rule,” said Hensarling, a Republican from Texas who is scheduled to give remarks on the closing day of the 20th annual Non-Prime Auto Finance Conference orchestrated by the National Automotive Finance Association.

“We have the Pentagon which is on budget. We have the Justice Department which is on budget. There is certainly no greater duty we have than to provide for the common defense, and we do not let the Pentagon write its own budget,” he continued. “We should not let the CFPB write its own budget. It is a base matter of congressional oversight and of Article I authority.”

The measure approved by the committee authorizes $485.1 million for the CFPB; the same amount Cordray determined was necessary to fund the bureau during the most recent fiscal year.

According to a news release posted by the committee’s minority members, the measure wouldn’t generate the benefits Republicans claim.

“The majority claims this will save nearly $6 billion over the next 10 years, which can only be true if Congress ceased all funding for the CFPB. Committee Democrats defended the Bureau — which Republicans have tried to dismantle since it was created – and the need to shield it from the political whims of the Congress,” the lawmaker said.

Barring a last-minute change because of commitments on Capitol Hill, Hensarling will give attendees at the NAF Association’s annual gathering the opportunity to hear first-hand how the House is handling the CFPB and other matters associated with auto financing. The Non-Prime Auto Finance Conference runs from June 1 to June 3 at the Marriott Legacy Town Center in Plano, Texas.

Before Hensarling appears to begin the final day of the event, the NAF Association lined up a series of experts to present the latest trends and analysis. The conference will open with the presentation of the Non-Prime Auto Financing Survey, which again this year is a collaboration involving the NAF Association, the American Financial Services Association as well as Dwayne Furmidge of Benchmark Consulting International.

For the complete agenda and registration details, go to this website.