I don't think that would work, at all. Mulvaney's justification for requesting zero funds was that the agency already had enough funds to more than cover that q

I don't think that would work, at all. Mulvaney's justification for requesting zero funds was that the agency already had enough funds to more than cover that quarter's spending, the law required him to request "the amount determined by the Director to be reasonably necessary to carry out the authorities of the Bureau under Federal consumer financial law, taking into account such other sums made available to the Bureau from the preceding year (or quarter of such year)", and since he couldn't find any statutory or practical justification for maintaining such a large reserve that amount was zero. It'd probably be rather difficult to come up with any kind of take-care case against someone for seemingly following the law to the letter.