"Without independent funding, every time an examiner goes in to look at the books and records of a trillion dollar company they'll be facing the possibility that that company will come back in the next budget cycle and lobby to have the bureau's budget cut," Warren said.
'Significant Reduction'
"Any significant reduction in funding takes cops off the beat," Warren said. "You don't want the people being examined to have the power to fire the cops that do the examination, even in an indirect way."
The bureau's structure reflects concern expressed by lawmakers who crafted Dodd-Frank that regulators such as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency failed to properly regulate big banks before the credit crisis, according to Rachel Barkow, a New York University professor who testified before Congress during debate over the legislation.
"The question was how to make the agency independent and not in the hands of banks," Barkow said. "If anything, financial regulatory agencies are often too accountable to political interests."
Accountability Requirements
The consumer bureau's accountability requirements are similar to those for existing federal bank regulators, though each agency has some unique rules. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s inspector general, for example, is funded through congressional appropriations, spokesman Andrew Gray said.
The FDIC, like the OCC and the Fed, have guaranteed funding streams outside of the congressional appropriations process.
The bureau has to issue twice-yearly reports to Congress on its work, and the director has to explain them to lawmakers. It also must file quarterly reports to the Office of Management and Budget, which audits the agency and reports to Congress.
The new agency is alone among regulators in that its rules can be overridden by a two-thirds vote of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, a panel of regulators created by Dodd-Frank.