CFPB FY 2024 Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI) Report to Congress
In Section 342 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd- Frank Act), Congress directed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) to establish an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI). Section 342(e) of the Dodd-Frank Act requires the OMWI to submit to Congress an annual report that shall include:
- the total amount and percentage of the amounts CFPB paid to contractors since the previous report;
- the successes achieved and challenges faced in operating minority and women outreach programs;
- the challenges the agency may face in hiring qualified minority and women employees and contracting with qualified minority-owned and women-owned businesses; and
- any other information, findings, conclusions, and recommendations for legislative or agency action, as the OMWI Director determines appropriate.
This report covers the period of October 1, 2023 through September 30, 2024.
The current leadership of the Bureau, under Acting Director Vought, has concerns regarding certain aspects of this reporting in light of the Supreme Court decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellow of Harvard College, 143 S. Ct. 2141 (2023). As the Supreme Court reiterated in that case: “‘Distinctions between citizens solely because of their ancestry are by their very nature odious to a free people whose institutions are founded upon the doctrine of equality.’” Id. at 2147 (citing Rice v. Cayetano, 528 U.S. 495, 517 (2000)). As Justice Thomas observed, “[i]t should be obvious that every racial classification helps, in a narrow sense, some races and hurts others.” Id. at 2199 (Thomas, J., conc.). Accordingly, “[c]lassifying” individuals based on their race “requires more than . . . an amorphous end to justify it.” Id. at 2166.
The Supreme Court also criticized the categories that the universities used to measure the racial composition of their classes, including the overbreadth of the “Asian” category and the arbitrary and undefined nature of “Hispanic.” Id. at 2167. As Justice Thomas emphasized, “whether a law relying upon racial taxonomy is ‘benign’ or ‘malign’ either turns on ‘whose ox is gored’ or on distinctions found only in the eye of the beholder.” Id. at 2199 (Thomas, J., conc.).
In light of these concerns, the CFPB will continue to fulfill its responsibilities under applicable law, including Section 342 of the Dodd-Frank Act, by ensuring vendors have a fair opportunity to compete for CFPB business opportunities and identifying the best contractors to support the CFPB’s mission and operations. The CFPB will also continue to recruit, hire, and retain the highest quality workforce based on merit, consistent with Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.