FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
PRESS CONTACT:
nicole@focalpointstrategygroup.com
Washington, D.C. — On Friday, February 7th, former President Trump appointed OMB Director Russell Vought as the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Vought, who was confirmed by the Senate just a day earlier in a narrowly partisan 53-47 vote, is a key architect of Project 2025 and a long-time ally of Trump. In the days following his appointment, Vought has launched a concerted effort to dismantle the CFPB, in what is likely just the beginning of his overreach of executive authority.
Vought has essentially dismantled the CFPB, an agency created by Congress that requires congressional authorization for its official dissolution. In an attempt to circumvent Congress, Vought has directed that the Bureau’s headquarters have been shuttered, staff members have been ordered to halt all investigations, and all operations have come to a standstill.
Trump-Vought’s imperial agenda will lead to lasting destruction to our civil society and systems of government. The Senators who voted for Vought have put Trump ahead of their constituents and their own power allotted to them by the United States Constitution, leaving their constituents to be exposed to financial abuse by Vought’s latest actions.
Read The Latest Below:
New York Times: 36 Hours After Vought Took Over Consumer Bureau, He Shut Its Operations
- In less than 36 hours, Mr. Vought threw the agency into chaos. On Saturday, he ordered the bureau’s 1,700 employees to stop nearly all their work and announced plans to cut off the agency’s funding. Then on Sunday, he closed the bureau’s headquarters for the coming week. Workers who tried to retrieve their laptops from the office were turned away, employees said.
- Created by Congress in the aftermath of the housing crisis that set off the Great Recession, the consumer bureau became one of Wall Street’s most feared regulators, with the power to issue new rules — and penalize companies for breaking them — around mortgages, credit cards, student loans, credit reporting and other areas that affect the financial lives of millions of Americans.
- The agency’s foes have long called for its elimination, which only Congress has the power to do. Elon Musk, the billionaire leader of a government efficiency team that has created havoc throughout the federal government, posted “CFPB RIP” on his social media platform X on Friday.
NPR: New CFPB Chief Closes Headquarters, Tells All Staff They Must Not Do ‘Any Work Tasks’
- Staff and contractors at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have been told they cannot “perform any work tasks,” according to an internal email obtained by NPR on Monday.
- The new directive from the CFPB’s acting director, Russell Vought, on Monday comes after the agency closed the bureau’s Washington headquarters for the week and told staff to work remotely. No reason was given for the building’s closure.
- The bureau’s staff was informed over the weekend that Vought is now acting director of the CFPB, the United States’ consumer protection watchdog.
NBC News: Union Sues Russell Vought Over DOGE Access to CFPB And Attempts To Shutter Bureau
- A union filed two lawsuits against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s acting director, Russell Vought, on Sunday after Vought issued a series of directives halting much of the bureau’s activity.
- One lawsuit urged a judge to block the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing employee information, while the other asked a judge to block Vought’s directives. Vought had instructed employees in an email Saturday to “cease all supervision and examination activity,” “cease all stakeholder engagement” and pause all pending investigations, among other orders.
- The lawsuits were filed by the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents employees in the CFPB.