Mick Mulvaney has taken the next step in transforming the name of the agency he is temporarily running. It was noted yesterday that the sign outside the headquarters for the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection had been changed. Gone was the CFPB and in its place was:
Making America a Bureau Again pic.twitter.com/828axGcr0V
— Alan Zibel (@alanzibel.bsky.social) (@AlanZibel) June 11, 2018
Mulvaney, the acting director, has been working at changing the name of the federal regulator for the past few months. In testimony and in speeches, Mulvaney has noted that the official name of the agency — as its referred to in the law that created it — is the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. It had been known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It might not sound like much of a difference, but even Mulvaney has noted that rearranging the words is an indication of a different mission and objective. By moving Bureau in front of Consumer, it appears as though consumers are less important in Mulvaney’s offices than they were when Richard Cordray was patrolling the halls.
“I think [Mulvaney] means to be very explicit that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is subordinating consumers — consumers no longer come first at the CFPB,” said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, in a published report. He quipped, “I’m sure what he’d rather do is just take out the C altogether.”
Public Citizen used the new arrangement to poke some fun at the agency, suggesting the reorientation of the letters now stood for Best Consumer Fraud Place or Bureau for Corrupt Financial Predators.
If it wasn’t already clear enough, consumers no longer come first at Mick Mulvaney’s @CFPB.
Welcome to…the Best Consumer Fraud Place? Or perhaps the Bureau for Corrupt Financial Predators? We'll have to check with Mick. pic.twitter.com/m3h123bPtW
— Public Citizen (@Public_Citizen) June 11, 2018
