WASHINGTON – Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) joined a bipartisan group of Senators in a letter to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought, urging swift action to disburse congressionally-appropriated funding from the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund. The letter calls for transparency and timeliness in deploying the $324 million allocated in the Fiscal Year 2025 spending package to support over 1,400 CDFIs across the country.
The CDFI Fund was established in 1994 to promote access to capital in distressed communities. Each year, it enables CDFIs to leverage private capital alongside federal support to build housing, expand access to credit, and drive job growth in low-income areas. Since its inception, the CDFI Fund has provided over $2 billion to communities in Arizona, including in eighteen different cities and towns.
“Since its inception over three decades ago, the CDFI Fund has proven critical to the CDFI sector’s success and has met the mission to create a public-private partnership to promote access to capital in our most underserved rural and urban communities,” wrote the Senators. “Each year, CDFIs leverage federal dollars from the CDFI Fund with private-sector investment to boost small business formation, increase housing production, and deliver new capital to America’s forgotten communities.”
In the FY25 appropriations package, Congress allocated $324 million to support the CDFI Fund’s programs. However, as of this month, significant delays remain in awarding and obligating those funds, creating uncertainty for the more than 1,400 certified CDFIs that rely on the Fund for program continuity and impact.
“It’s imperative that congressionally-approved funds for the CDFI Fund are deployed strategically and in a timely manner. Delay in the obligation of funds hinders critical projects in our states and could constrain the flow of capital to businesses and consumers who need it the most,” pressed the Senators. “To date, the CDFI Fund has yet to announce and disburse awards for five programs within its portfolio even though application periods closed months ago. Furthermore, other programs have yet to publish applications for the current fiscal year. The uncertainty around the deployment of federal funds from the CDFI Fund is concerning but can be addressed expeditiously. Therefore, we request that your Office issue a spending plan to Congress outlining the timelines for the obligation of all discretionary funds. The plan should provide Congress and the CDFI community with certainty that there will be continuity in the programs that have been lawfully funded.”
Read the full letter HERE.
Senator Gallego also joined a March letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, emphasizing the bipartisan support for the CDFI Fund and highlighting the fund’s critical role in providing capital to underserved communities. Earlier this year, he backed the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program Improvement Actto strengthen and expand the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program, while making it more reliable and accessible to smaller CDFIs.
8/1/25