It looks like the most recent executive order from President Donald Trump to reorganize the executive branch may apply to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

For now, the regulator remains an independent agency, though on March 13, President Trump signed an executive order granting additional powers to either rework or eliminate "components of agencies, and agency programs."

According to the latest blog by Barbara Mishkin from Ballard Spahr, this new order does appear to apply to independent regulatory agencies including the CFPB.

The first section of the new executive order states:

Section 1.  Purpose.  This order is intended to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of the executive branch by directing the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (Director) to propose a plan to reorganize governmental functions and eliminate unnecessary agencies (as defined in section 551(1) of title 5, United States Code), components of agencies, and agency programs.

After several procedural guidelines, the director of the Office of Management and Budget must submit a proposed plan to the president “to reorganize the executive branch in order to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of agencies,” the blog noted.  

But even though the CFPB may fall under this order, there might not be much that much that the director of the OMB can do.

Mishkin explained, “Since the CFPB was created by the Dodd-Frank Act and much of its internal structure is dictated by Dodd-Frank, any proposal to eliminate or substantially restructure the CFPB could not be implemented by the President unilaterally but would require Congress to amend Dodd-Frank.”

Congress already has several proposed bills working their way through the system to overhaul the CFPB. This new order only adds another layer to the heated debated of the future of the CFPB.