The White House can protect basic economic opportunity from unnecessary further harm in the federal government shutdown by preserving the bipartisan CDFI Fund’s operations, leading community advocates said Wednesday.
“Shutting down the government will hurt everyday Americans in hundreds of ways large and small, but the crucial and efficient work of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) doesn’t have to be one of them,” said Jesse Van Tol, President and CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC). “It would be a mistake to throw the CDFI Fund baby out with the shutdown bathwater.”
White House officials have signalled they intend to use a potential government shutdown to lay off staff at various agencies, potentially including the CDFI Fund, which continues to enjoy broad bipartisan support some 31 years after Congress created it in a 410 to 12 floor vote. The Treasury Department reaffirmed in March that all of the CDFI Fund’s programs are statutorily required.
“The White House has the opportunity to ensure that America’s small businesses, rural communities and struggling neighborhoods can continue to enjoy the same basic economic opportunities that CDFIs promote with efficiently targeted and effectively managed local capital,” said Mac McNeil, Executive Director of NCRC Community Development Fund (NCRC CDF). “We all know how hard it is to find bipartisan consensus in Washington these days. But we’ve seen time and again in 2025 that the straightforward and successful CDFI Fund continues to enjoy support from across the political spectrum.”
