Mike Calhoun, president of the Center for Responsible Lending said in April that placing the CFPB under direct congressional appropriations has been the main weapon of CFPB opponents. He said an annual appropriation would subject the agency to riders that could restrict or prohibit enforcement of rules to the extent it no longer functions.

During markup Thursday by the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee of an appropriations bill that includes the CFPB provisions, ranking member Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said the CFPB provisions were among elements in the bill undermining consumer protections.

"The independence of the CFPB was absolutely critical," Hoyer said. "Critical when we created it, and critical now to make sure that it is the consumer that is the object of its work and not politics of the Congress or of the president."

He added, "This bill also undermines law enforcement — CFPB is essentially an enforcement agency to ensure that people are safe."

However, NAFCU endorsed the changes in an April 25 letter to House leaders from Greg Mesack, NAFCU's SVP of government affairs.

Greg Mesack

"The CFPB has unprecedented power and enforcement authority with nearly no accountability under its guaranteed funding mechanism," Mesack wrote. "Subjecting the CFPB to the congressionally-driven appropriations process will give Congress much needed oversight and incentivize the bureau to focus on true consumer abuse and work to uphold congressional intent."

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments this fall in a case stemming from a suit by payday lenders. The court could declare the CFPB's funding and governance structure unconstitutional, and perhaps vacate all its rules since Congress founded the agency in 2010 to curb abuses that contributed to the financial crisis preceding the Great Recession of 2008.

Mike Calhoun

The Center for Responsible Lending and Self-Help credit unions were among the groups filing friend-of-the-court briefs in May supporting the CFPB. CUNA and NAFCU have said they plan to file a joint amicus brief before the July deadline for briefs supporting the payday lenders.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of Home Builders of the United States filed a joint brief in May supporting neither side, but asking the court to keep the CFPB's current rules intact. They wrote that questioning the validity of those rules might have "potentially catastrophic consequences."