Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander sent a letter to U.S. Department of the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, demanding the Trump Administration stop its unlawful plan to eliminate the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund amid this ongoing senseless government shutdown. CDFIs are financial lenders with a mission to provide financing and support to underserved communities. Congressman Pappas also signed this letter.
In the letter, Goodlander and her colleagues underscore how, for decades, communities across the country have benefited from the CDFI Fund, whose success has been made possible through the dedicated staff who have been essential to carrying out its statutory programs and functions. These public servants have helped CDFIs — including hundreds of community banks, credit unions, and loan funds — navigate rigorous certifications and applications, manage grants, and ensure funds reach the communities that need them most. Despite the Fund’s decades of proven success, the Trump Administration has repeatedly targeted the work of the CDFI Fund this year, delaying and even forcing reapplications for hundreds of millions of dollars in awards that community financial institutions leverage to provide financial access to consumers and small businesses. They go on to warn that firing CDFI staff would be reckless and would threaten the CDFI Fund’s core mission of expanding access to capital, especially to underserved groups and areas that have been historically and systemically shut out by traditional financial institutions.
“We write to express our deep concern at the attempt by the Trump Administration to unilaterally terminate all of the Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) staff as it pursues illegal ‘reductions in force’ during the government shutdown. The CDFI Fund and the community financial institutions they serve are an essential and vital source of capital and financial services to underserved communities across the United States that traditional financial institutions historically don’t serve as well, including in urban and rural communities,” wrote the lawmakers.
“While this misguided move has been rightfully challenged in court, it is imperative that you not wait to take action to rescind this unlawful attempt to undermine the CDFI Fund immediately. Doing so will help ensure that CDFIs and the communities that depend on them across the country will continue to thrive now and in the years to come,” the lawmakers continued.
In closing, the lawmakers urge the Administration to immediately reverse this unlawful action and protect the CDFI Fund and its staff, whose work is vital to continue supporting the families, businesses, and communities that rely on this critical source of economic empowerment.
Read the full letter HERE.
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