H.R. 976, 1071 Repeal to Protect Small Business Lending Act

H.R. 976 would repeal Section 704B of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, as added by Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. That section requires financial institutions to compile certain data on applications for credit for small businesses and submit that information annually to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). In March 2023, the CFPB issued a final rule implementing the data collection requirements; in June 2025, the bureau extended compliance deadlines for financial institutions.

Under current law, the CFPB is permanently authorized to spend amounts transferred from the combined earnings of the Federal Reserve in an amount necessary to carry out its responsibilities, subject to a statutory cap that was lowered by the 2025 reconciliation act. CBO expects that the CFPB will spend all the transferred funds up to its cap in each year over the 2026-2035 period.

CBO estimates that repealing Section 704B of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act would reduce the CFPB’s administrative costs by $14 million over the 2026-2035 period, but that the reduction would be offset by increased spending on other required administrative activities, resulting in no net budgetary effect.

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is David Hughes. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.