WASHINGTON – Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) joined Senate Banking Committee Democrats in demanding answers from Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Russell Vought on his plan to eliminate half of the remaining workforce at CFPB.
The plan was submitted during ongoing litigation that has so far blocked the CFPB’s original plans to lay off 90% of the staff. The Trump Administration has waged an illegal, chaotic assault on the only federal agency tasked specifically with protecting consumers. The revised plan would retain only 556 CFPB employees, down from the more than 1,100 employees currently on staff and the more than 1,700 people employed at the CFPB before President Trump took office. In a letter to Vought, the Senators demanded that Vought outline how the CFPB will be able to serve the American people with only one-third of its current staff.
“This plan…once again reveals the Administration’s overarching goal: rolling back consumer protections, letting companies off the hook when they break the law, and firing the hardworking people who help ensure the CFPB is a ‘cop on the beat’ fighting financial fraud and abuse,” wrote the senators.
“Since the CFPB was created, the agency has returned over $21 billion to Americans cheated by big banks and giant corporations. Congress authorized the CFPB to assume this role, buttressed with dozens of mandated activities and an independent funding source to ensure its statutory role protecting consumers remains steadfast and unhampered by partisan politics. Maintaining the staff to perform the agency’s required functions is therefore a critical component towards ensuring that Americans are not left to fend for themselves against scams and fraud,” continued the senators.
Read the full letter HERE.