Senators ask White House to release CDFI funds

Community development financial institutions (CDFIs) commonly finance small businesses and commercial real estate ventures. These grants help turn public money into much larger amounts of private investment. Every year, they help generate more than $300 billion in loans and mortgages, according to Bloomberg’s report.

But Vought and other White House officials have moved to shut down the CDFI Fund as part of the Trump administration’s broader push to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs — despite the program’s ability to help residents in both blue and red states.

Right now, lenders are reporting that the CDFI money is frozen and the White House hasn’t released it, leading several programs to pause their acceptance of new applications.

Senators,…