WASHINGTON– Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, along with all Banking Committee Democrats, have sent a letter to Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Russell Vought raising concerns over what they called “new evidence that he plans to illegally shut down the CFPB.”
Separately, the CFPB has also announced it is withdrawing additional rules and has made additional announcements.
In their letter, the senators noted the agency has returned over $21 billion directly to Americans “cheated or scammed by Wall Street and giant corporations,” and a federal court has issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting a shutdown.
As the CU Daily has reported, in a recent interview Vought announced that he plans to “close down” the CFPB “within the next two or three months.”
“These comments are particularly concerning given that a federal court has specifically blocked you from illegally shutting down the agency,” wrote the Banking Committee Democrats. “You have also let the fiscal year pass without having requested any funding for the CFPB to perform its work, an unprecedented approach that threatens to leave the agency unable to fulfill its many statutory obligations on behalf of consumers across the country. Your continued attempts to shutter the CFPB are illegal, and American families stand to pay the price.”
Claims ‘Undermined’
The letter argues that Vought’s admissions undermine claims by Trump Administration lawyers that there are no plans to shutter the CFPB.
“Just this week, they even emphasized your ‘renunciation of any intent to shut down the Bureau’ earlier this year,” the letter states. “But your brazen admission last week confirms what has been apparent all along: You are working to shut down the CFPB in violation of the law. You should be focused on reducing costs for Americans across the country, as President Trump promised he would do on Day One of his Administration. Instead, you are making it easier for big banks and giant corporations to cheat and scam families across the country, declaring open season on American consumers.”
The lawmakers are calling on Vought to provide specifics on his plans to shut down the CFPB no later than Oct. 31.
The Signatories
Those signing the letter to Acting Director Vought include Senators Jack Reed (D-RI), Mark Warner (D-VA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Raphael Wanock (D-GA), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD).
CFPB Withdraws Rules
Separately, the CFPB rescinded a final rule and withdrew a proposed rule in the Federal Register.
Rescinded by the Bureau was its 2024 rule requiring certain nonbank covered persons subject to public orders issued by a government agency to report the existence of the orders and related information to a CFPB registry.
America’s Credit Unions’ noted its legacy organizations (CUNA and NAFCU) supported the intent of the database, and its exclusion of credit unions, but had expressed concerns during the rulemaking process with proposed language indicating the CFPB might consider collecting the information described from credit unions.
Other Moves by CFPB
- In addition, the CFPB said it has withdrawn a 2023 proposal to create a registry of supervised nonbanks that use certain form contracts. The CFPB determined that the rulemaking is “not necessary or appropriate at this time” and will not take any further action on the proposal.
CUNA and NAFCU had also previously expressed strong concerns that the proposal would bring additional burdens to credit unions using credit union service organizations or vendor form contracts, the trade group said.
- The bureau also rescinded amendments to the rules of practice for adjudication proceedings made in 2022 and 2023. The CFPB’s powers include authorization to conduct adjudication proceedings that could include credit unions.
According to America’s Credit Unions, the 2022 and 2023 amendments involved a new deposition process, timing and deadlines changes, bifurcation of proceedings, the process for deciding dispositive motions, and more, but both sets of amendments have been rescinded effective with today’s publication in the Federal Register.
