It’s been challenging trying to keep on top of all the developments surrounding the situation at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and what’s starting to make things even more confusing is that there are now three streams of content. The first stream of content is the actual news and developments that are going on, like another email from Acting Director Russell Vought telling employees to “stand down” until further notice from doing any work. The second stream of content is the reaction to the news and developments. The third steam is the analysis of the news and developments, which question whether the administration has the authority to do what it is doing. All three are important and require coverage, but it’s hard to keep them separate and not get caught up in the increasing rhetoric that is flying from both sides of this debate. On top of all that, Rohit Chopra and Richard Cordray, former directors of the Bureau, have weighed in on what’s going on.
To make sure everyone is caught up, here is a quick recap. The CFPB fired Chopra and installed a new Acting Director who has taken steps to dramatically curtail the work output of the Bureau while also physically closing off the Bureau’s headquarters to employees. Representatives from the Department of Government Efficiency are involved in the steps that have been taken as well. In response, the union that represents the Bureau’s employees have filed suit, accusing Vought and the Trump administration of overstepping their authority. Democrats and consumer advocates are outraged at what has transpired, saying that what the administration is doing is illegal.
The White House issued a press release yesterday, outlining how the CFPB has “weaponized” its agenda in recent years.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) — the brainchild of Sen. Elizabeth Warren — has long functioned as another woke, weaponized arm of the bureaucracy that leverages its power against certain industries and individuals disfavored by so-called “elites.”
In response to a question about this statement, here is what Chopra had to say during an interview on NPR:
I don’t know what on earth that means. The actions that have been taken by the CFPB in the past few years are against debt collectors who are illegally collecting on medical debt against companies, like Capital One, which had been withholding billions of dollars in interest, credit reporting companies who have tarnished credit reports improperly due to errors. These are things that people of every political stripe want to protect themselves against and often, consumers do not have much power against some of the most the biggest corporations in America. And that’s what the CFPB does to level the playing field.
Meanwhile, there were reports that DOGE representatives covered windows in two conference rooms at the CFPB with brown paper and painter’s tape to prevent anyone from seeing what they were doing.
In an interview with The New York Times, Cordray said,
“President Trump and his people, many of whom are not even properly members of the government, are taking a wrecking ball to our government. He dislikes the law, and he’s trying to ignore it and act as though it doesn’t exist. That’s not his role. We don’t have a king in our society like that, and that’s deliberate on the part of our founding fathers.”
One other callback — Vought’s email to employees telling them not to work referred to the Bureau as the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, a name that was used when Mick Mulvaney was Acting Director back in 2017 and 2018. It also appears that Mark Paoletta, OMB’s chief legal officer, is now working in a similar capacity at the CFPB as well.
