Trump appointee shuts down consumer protection agency

The future of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau became uncertain after the Senate approved President Donald Trump’s pick for director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, on Thursday. The new director instructed employees at the bureau to stop work on proposed rules and cease all investigations in a Saturday email, according to reporting by the Associated Press and other outlets.

Vought said Saturday that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would not take its next round of funding allowed from the Federal Reserve’s undesignated funding pool. The bureau’s current balance of just over $710 million is more than enough to fund its work, he wrote. Employees were informed on Sunday that the agency’s Washington, D.C. headquarters would close until next week, the Associated Press added. The agency’s homepage appeared to be offline and read “page not found” as of Monday evening. Trump ally Elon Musk hinted at the agency’s drastic changes on Friday by posting “CFPB RIP” with a coffin emoji.

President Barack Obama created the agency through 2010 legislation as a means to protect consumers from deceptive or abusive practices within the financial market. The agency is responsible for drafting and enforcing finance codes to keep companies and banks accountable. Some praise the agency for shielding average Americans from financial abuse, while others argue the agency has exceeded its power through federal overreach.

How are legislators reacting? Several Republican lawmakers called for support for the Defund the CFBP Act introduced to both congressional chambers last month by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas). Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.) and Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) described the agency as unaccountable in separate social media posts and called for its abolition. But Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) alleged that ending the bureau would strip all protections against those she characterized as Wall Street CEOs cheating money out of consumers. She pledged to fight the shutdown, both in Congress and in court, according to another post. Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) echoed Warren’s sentiments, arguing that the agency had returned billions of dollars to taxpayers. Dismantling this agency would allow financial predators to rip off working Americans, she wrote.

Dig deeper: Listen to David L. Bahnsen discuss the potential effects of financial deregulation in 2025 on The World and Everything in It.