Twenty-three members of the Senate CDFI Caucus, signed a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to reaffirm their bipartisan support for the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund.
- President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing agencies to eliminate the CDFI Fund — a bipartisan program, established by Congress in 1994, that provides millions of dollars annually to lenders operating affordable housing in poorer rural and urban areas.
- Secretary Bessent responded that the “administration recognizes the important role” of CDFIs and the CDFI Fund, and “the Treasury Department will provide a response to the director of the OMB” as required by the executive order.
- This threat to eliminate a mechanism to finance affordable housing follows an announcement Secretary Bessent made earlier this month to appoint an “affordability czar” in the Treasury Department “who picks the five or eight areas where this administration can make a big difference for working class Americans” by addressing high prices in the country.
What’s Next: The outcome of this executive order could set a precedent for future executive actions impacting legislatively established programs. It remains uncertain whether President Trump can unilaterally dissolve the CDFI Fund.
