If there has ever been a weekend, or a period of time, where so many new developments have occurred that impact this industry, I don’t remember it. Going back to Friday morning, there has been a non-stop stream of developments involving the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that, as of this morning, make it appear as though the operations of the CFPB have been effectively shut down, at least on a temporary basis. The best way to catch you up is just to break down everything that has happened in the past 72 hours.
Thursday night/Friday morning
- Individuals from the Department of Government Efficiency arrived at the CFPB, expecting access to key internal systems at the Bureau. This triggered a nasty response from the union representing employees of the Bureau.
- Congressional Democrats send Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, then the Acting Director of the Bureau, a letter, asking him to rescind “what appears to be an illegal stop work order” and asking questions about his plans for the Bureau going forward.
Friday afternoon
- Elon Musk posts this on X:
- Bessent is replaced by Russell Vought, the newly confirmed director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought is one of the architects behind Project 2025, a playbook written by conservatives for reshaping the government in the wake of a Trump presidential election victory. Vought wrote the section of the document about the CFPB, calling for its abolition.
- DOGE appears to take control of the CFPB’s account on X and deletes it and starts to take down parts of the CFPB’s website.
Saturday
- More than 100 workers from the CFPB hold a protest outside the Bureau’s headquarters.
- Vought announces on X that the CFPB will not take more money from the Federal Reserve, saying that “this spigot … is now being turned off.”
- Vought also announces that the CFPB is to halt all supervisory examinations of the entities it regulates. Bessent had already halted enforcement and rulemaking initiatives when he took over as Acting Director. This essentially means that all of the CFPB’s operations have been halted.
Sunday
- The union representing CFPB employees files two lawsuits against the CFPB and Vought. One sought to block DOGE access to employee information while the other sought to block the directives that have been issued by Vought.
- Vought tells CFPB employees that the Bureau’s headquarters are essentially closed for the week and they should work remotely. Workers who showed up at the Bureau to retrieve their laptops were turned away, according to a published report.
- On “Face the Nation” Sen. Bill Hagerty [R-Tenn.] calls the Bureau a “rogue” agency and says it’s time to “rein it in.”
Monday
- Your guess is as good as mine, but I’d bet all the money in my pocket that there is a lot more to come.
