The CDFI Coalition is deeply concerned that the CDFI Fund was targeted by a March 14, 2025, Executive Order limiting several federal agencies to their core statutory functions. However, the Executive Order, which requires agencies to eliminate “non-statutory components and functions… to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law,” should not impact the important work and programs at the CDFI Fund.
There is a clear statutory basis for the programs of the CDFI Fund. The “applicable law” establishing the CDFI Fund is the CDFI Fund is the Riegle Community Development and Regulatory Improvement Act of 1994. On March 14, 2025, President Trump signed the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act of 2025, a law directing a continuation of the FY24 level of $324 million in appropriations for the CDFI Fund and $500 million in CDFI Bond Guarantee Authority for FY 2025 (first authorized by the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010). The New Markets Tax Credit, which is also administered by the CDFI Fund, was reauthorized through 2025 on December 27, 2020, when President Trump signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 into law (P.L. 166-260).
Elimination of the CDFI Fund would deal a devastating blow to our economy, including small businesses and homeowners. Over 1,400 CDFIs represent a significant portion of America’s financial services sector, delivering over $300 billion in financial services each year to urban and rural communities stretching across every state and Congressional district. Each year, CDFIs provide affordable growth capital to over 100,000 entrepreneurs and small businesses. They finance over $100 billion in residential real estate, bringing down the cost of housing through new construction and affordable home mortgages.
The CDFI Fund and CDFIs have always enjoyed bipartisan support from Congress. As the new Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, put at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee on January 16, 2025, “…I believe that the breadth of the US financial services industry is what differentiates the US economy from the rest of the world. And I think the addition of these CDFIs into underserved communities are very important.”
We urge the Administration – and Members of Congress from both parties – to reaffirm their support for the CDFI Fund, a pillar of the financial services sector and a vital agency supporting underinvested communities across the country.