Mulvaney’s headline number: $0 for CFPB

Mick Mulvaney, the acting head of an Obama-era consumer regulator, on Thursday made an odd budget request for the current quarter: $0.

Mulvaney, who took over in December as acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, made the quarterly budget request in a letter to the Federal Reserve.

The CFPB, created in 2010 as part of the Dodd-Frank regulatory overhaul, has $177.1 million on hand, part of an emergency fund, and that’s enough to fund the agency for the second fiscal quarter, Mulvaney said.

The agency needs only $145 million for the next three months, he said.

“Simply put, I have been assured that the funds currently in the Bureau Fund are sufficient for the Bureau to carry out its statutory mandate for the next fiscal quarter while striving to be efficient, effective, and accountable,” Mulvaney wrote.

In October, Mulvaney’s predecessor, Richard Cordray, requested $217 million for the fiscal first quarter, according to letters posted on the agency’s Web site. That’s about twice the usual request.

Critics of Mulvaney, an outspoken critic of the CFPB, instantly jumped all over the budget request as proof the bureaucrat was aiming to choke the life out of the watchdog agency.

“Our worst fears about Acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney have been realized — he is clearly trying to dismantle from within the one federal agency whose sole mission is to fight for and protect consumers,” Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) said in a statement.

The CFPB has accumulated a budget surplus, intended for emergencies, for several years, although it’s not clear how large it’s been in the past, according to one agency insider.

There are no restriction on how the CFPB can use money from the surplus funds, and it shouldn’t affect spending, the person said.

Mulvaney, who had called the CFPB a “sick, sad” joke prior to his appointment by President Trump, is seeking to transform the regulator of bank loans, credit cards and other products.