OMB Director Says Plan is to ‘Close Down’ the CFPB

WASHINGTON–Already gutted for the most part, Russell Vought, who heads the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said during an interview that he plans to shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). 

During an appearance on “The Charlie Kirk Show,” Vought said there are only a few employees remaining inside the CFPB’s Washington headquarters “while we close down the agency. So we want to put it out and we will be successful probably within the next two or three months.”

The CFPB, established in 2008 in the wake of the financial crisis, had approximately 1,700 employees at its highest point of employment. The administration is currently in litigation with a labor union for CFPB employees, with the plaintiffs arguing the president  lacks the authority to fire most of the bureau’s staff or dissolve the agency entirely.

The GOP has long been critical of the CFPB, which was created as part of the Dodd-Frank Act. 

 “All they want to do is weaponize the tools of financial laws against basically small mom-and-pop lenders and other small financial institutions,” Vought said during the interview. 

As the CU Daily has reported, the CFPB has rescinded numerous rulemakings and also said it would not be enforcing others.