U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, along with 40 Democratic Senators, has directed a letter to CFPB Acting Director Russell Vought. The letter addresses concerns related to over 80 congressionally mandated responsibilities of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) following the dismissal of most of its staff. Signatories include all Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee.
Concurrent with this letter, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) announced an investigation into the Trump Administration's actions believed to undermine the CFPB. Initiated by Warren and Senator Andy Kim, this investigation will focus on various activities, such as attempted dismissals and the halt of several lawsuits aimed at corporate malpractices affecting American consumers.
The Senators' communication to Vought states: “On April 17, you tried to fire nearly all of the agency’s remaining 1,700 employees—the staff responsible for fulfilling the CFPB’s mission and statutory requirements to prevent Americans from getting scammed by big banks and giant corporations. Your hasty and unjustified mass firings are an illegal shutdown of the CFPB that will leave it unable to conduct agency actions that are required by law.”
The letter emphasizes the detrimental impact on CFPB operations, especially concerning divisions established to protect servicemembers and senior citizens. The Senators indicate that Vought's actions had created a significantly reduced workforce of only 200 employees, responsible for overseeing large financial entities, handling consumer inquiries, and managing urgent financial issues.
Criticism from the Senators extends to the dismissal of almost all personnel designated to assist victims of financial scams, specifically targeting servicemembers and senior citizens. A detailed account is requested by May 7, 2025, regarding the CFPB's statutory responsibilities, staff distribution as of December 2024, and the foreseen impact of workforce reductions.
The Senators conclude: “We request that you provide—by May 7, 2025—a detailed accounting of each of the more than 80 statutory obligations of the CFPB, the number of employees assigned to each of those functions as of December 2024, the number of employees who would be assigned to each function if your rushed reduction in force were to go into effect, the immediate impact of such a reduction on the agency’s ability to perform each function consistent with federal law and federal court orders, and copies of any individualized or particularized analysis of those planned reductions on the agency’s work.”