More than 20 U.S. Senators from both sides of the aisle sent a letter to U.S. Department of the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expressing their support for the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund, which a recent executive order from President Donald Trump called for eliminating. 

A March 14 executive order issued by Trump titled “Continuing the reduction of the federal bureaucracy” said the non-statutory components and functions of seven governmental entities, including the CDFI Fund, shall be eliminated.

“Since its inception over three decades ago, the CDFI Fund has proven critical to the CDFI sector’s growth and has met the mission to create a public-private partnership to promote access to capital in our most underserved urban and rural communities,” the senators wrote. “Over 1,400 CDFIs represent a significant portion of America’s financial services sector, delivering over $300 billion in financial services each year to urban and rural communities across every state.”

In fiscal year 2024, the CDFI Fund awarded $246.4 million to 48 organizations for the development of affordable housing and community facilities serving low-income families and communities.

“More distressed communities are being served by CDFIs than ever before, more first-time buyers are receiving the financing they need to purchase a home, more community facilities are being built, and more commercial loans are reaching entrepreneurs,” the senators wrote. “A reduction in the functions and operations of the CDFI Fund will have a corresponding impact on CDFI-certified entities and local communities and we urge you to avoid this unfortunate outcome.”

The letter was signed by 23 senators, led by Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho). “As co-chairs of the Community Development Finance Caucus, a group which has grown to 28 members, 14 Democrats and 14 Republicans, we are proud to reaffirm our bipartisan commitment to support the CDFI Fund’s mission,” they said in a statement.