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consumer financial protection bureau
Warren Says Trump and Musk Pushing to Gut CFPB as 'Payoff to the Rich Guys'
"If they succeed, CEOs and Wall Street will once again be free to trick, trap, and cheat you," said the Democratic senator.
Feb 10, 2025
As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's website went dark and its offices were shuttered on Monday, with the agency's chief operating officer telling staff it would be shut down for the week, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren was among the progressive leaders calling out the attack on the CFPB as one whose real target is working families across the country.
Chief Operating Officer Adam Martinez's message to staffers followed a weekend directive from Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought, which ordered the agency to "cease all supervision and examination activity."
As Common Dreamsreported Saturday, President Donald Trump's billionaire backer, Elon Musk, posted the words "RIP CFPB" on his social media platform X, late last week. Musk has a vested interest in shutting down the agency due to his plan to partner with Visa on a peer-to-peer payment system on X—the kind of financial venture that CFPB would oversee as it fights to ensure Americans aren't overcharged and scammed by big businesses.
In addition to helping ensure the federal government won't hold Musk's new business accountable, said Warren (D-Mass.), Trump is intent on securing "a payoff to the rich guys who invested in his campaign and who want to cheat families and not have anybody around to stop them."
"If you have a bank account or a credit card or a mortgage or student loan, this is code red. I am ringing the alarm bell," said Warren in a video posted to social media. "If they succeed, CEOs and Wall Street will once again be free to trick, trap, and cheat you."
President Trump campaigned on lowering costs. But he’s letting billionaire Elon Musk and Project 2025 Architect Russ Vought kill the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If they succeed, CEOs on Wall Street will once again be free to cheat you out of your savings.
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— Elizabeth Warren (@warren.senate.gov) February 10, 2025 at 9:30 AM
The agency shut down this week as the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents CFPB workers, filed two lawsuits against Vought in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia over the Trump administration's takeover of the agency.
The union is seeking to block the Department of Government Efficiency( DOGE), the advisory body led by Musk, from gaining access to CFPB employee data.
It also alleges that Vought's halting of the agency's operations "reflects an unlawful attempt to thwart Congress' decision to create the CFPB to protect American consumers."
Trump's attempt to shut down the agency is "another scam," said Warren—a former law professor who proposed and then helped build the CFPB before joining Congress.
"For years, Republicans have tried and tried again to repeal it in Congress and they have failed every single time," said the senator. "Congress built the CFPB, and no one other than Congress—not the president, not Musk, not Vought—can shut it down."
Trump, Musk, and other powerful CEOs want the CFPB shut down, Warren said, because "this little agency has forced giant banks and corporations to give back more than $21 billion directly to families they cheated."
In a statement, government watchdog Accountable.US said the attack on the agency is "a direct gut punch to American consumers, and a long-awaited gift to big banks that have been lobbying against the CFPB since before it was established by the landmark law to protect consumers in the wake of the 2007–08 Great Recession. It pauses ongoing investigations into cases of fraud and predatory practices by banks that rip off American consumers."
The group also noted that attempts to shut down a bureau that has directly financially benefited working families and held Wall Street accountable is just the latest evidence that, despite the populist tone he struck during his campaign, Trump is breaking his promises "to lower costs and protect American consumers."
Accountable.US also pointed to the $3,900 more the typical U.S. family would pay in taxes under Trump's tax plan and the executive action the president rescinded that was aimed at lowering prescription drug costs.
"Attacking the CFPB is the latest reminder that Trump's Washington will always put the interests of big banks, corporations, and his billionaire donors ahead of the American people," said Accountable.US executive director Tony Carrk. "In its more than a decade as an agency, the CFPB has put billions of dollars back into the pockets of American families and held big banks accountable for predatory practices that scam consumers and raise their costs. Gutting the agency all but confirms that Trump and Musk are reimagining the government to service themselves at the expense of Americans—who will without a doubt see their costs rise as a result of these efforts."
While DOGE has swept through the offices of numerous government agencies in recent weeks, claiming it's cutting costs for American taxpayers and improving efficiency, organizer Leah Greenberg said the attack on CFPB and other agencies "isn't about saving money."
"It's about making it easier for the ultrarich to keep scamming the rest of us, unchecked and unchallenged," said Greenberg, co-founder of the progressive advocacy group Indivisible. "And let's not forget: Musk isn't just any billionaire throwing his weight around—he has clear conflicts of interest with massive financial stakes in industries regulated by the very agencies he's trying to dismantle."
Warren said Democratic lawmakers "will not let up in Congress or the courts until we win this fight."
"There is power in fighting back," said the senator, "so please call your representative and most of all, get the word out. We are here to fight for the little agency that fights for us."
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'So Much for Lowering Costs': Fury Over Musk's Death Wish for CFPB That Returned Over $20 Billion to Consumers
"The richest man in the world wants to shut down an agency that keeps people like him from ripping off the rest of us."
Feb 08, 2025
Defenders of a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that has returned tens of billions of dollars to duped and defrauded U.S. consumers expressed outrage overnight and into Saturday after the independent agency was declared deceased by billionaire Elon Musk and its operations were handed over to the chief architect of the far-right Project 2025 Russell Vought.
Vought, who earlier this week was confirmed as head of the Office of Management and Budget by Senate Republicans, was named acting director of the CFPB by President Donald Trump, according to various reports.
The appointment of the far-right ideologue came less than a day after reports emerged that members of the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency( DOGE) were granted access to key CFPB systems and Musk himself posted to his online social media X that the agency should "RIP," suggesting it was in the process of being dismantled or, in his mind, already killed.
"Since its creation, the Bureau has returned $21 billion to people's wallets by fighting against illegal financial charges, junk fees, debts, and fraud," said Mike Calhoun, president of the nonpartisan Center for Responsible Lending, in a statement on Saturday. Now, when people are already struggling to pay higher prices for necessities like eggs and milk, the Trump administration appears to have decided to deepen the pain by directly taking aim at the agency that helps keep our money safe."
"When people are already struggling to pay higher prices for necessities like eggs and milk, the Trump administration appears to have decided to deepen the pain by directly taking aim at the agency that helps keep our money safe."
"'Let them eat debt' is not a strategy for making America great again," Calhoun added, "and weakening the CFPB certainly isn't the way to keep working families, our financial markets, or our economy strong."
Stacy Mitchell, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, which challenges corporate encroachment on the common good, said, "Obviously this isn't about 'efficiency.' It's about dismantling law enforcement that protects Americans from corporate power."
Congressional Democrats also reacted with contempt to Musk's message and the news that the agency's systems—like those of other agencies DOGE has put its hands on—were under threat.
"Here is the richest man in the world bragging about eliminating an agency that has delivered $21 billion back to working-class families since its inception," said Democrats on the House Committee on Financial Services, led by Ranking Member Maxine Waters of California. "Even most Republicans want the CFPB to continue protecting them from being ripped off by abusive big banks and predatory lenders."
"Here are the FACTS: 81% of voters, both Republicans and Democrats, support the CFPB and want the agency to continue its work," said Rep. Juan Vargas (D-Calif.), also a member of the committee. "Even so, Trump has moved to freeze the CFPB to take money out of YOUR pocket to line those of his billionaire friends."
In a letter sent to the CFPB on Friday—addressed to the previous acting director, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, whose first act of business was reportedly to order a halt of "all meaningful work"—Waters, Vargas, and 79 other Democratic members of the House said they were "deeply alarmed and troubled that you appear to be launching the Trump Administration's plan to contravene the will of Congress and unlawfully 'delete' this popular consumer watchdog that enjoys the broad bipartisan support of four out of five Americans."
According to the letter:
... we understand that you have ordered staff to halt all meaningful work of the CFPB, including ordering staff to stop investigating violations of consumer financial protection laws or settling enforcement actions, basically letting bad actors off the hook. We also understand that you have arbitrarily ordered the suspension of all CFPB rules that have yet to take effect, which would delay billions of dollars in savings and credit opportunities for consumers, if not rob them entirely.
We urge you to immediately rescind what appears to be an illegal stop work order and allow the public servants at the CFPB to get back to work for the American people as required by law.
As of this writing, the CFPB's homepage (www.consumerfinance.gov) prominently displayed a 404 error message, though portions of the site appeared to be active.
In a Saturday statement, the Democrats on the House Finance Committee said the 404 image on the CFPB website was intentionally "deceptive," calling it "a brazen attempt to fool consumers and the public about the status" of the agency.
"As of this moment, links and pages are still up and functional on the website," the statement said, "including the Consumer Complaint portal and database and Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) database. Various aspects of the CFPB's web content is required by statute to be published and available on the CFPB's website."
"Let's be clear: the people cheering this the loudest are scammers and people who don't want you to keep your hard-earned dollars. So much for lowering costs."
Nadine Chabrier, counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending, said the "deeply troubling" developments at the agency will "undermine the CFPB's mission to protect consumers from financial misconduct" of various kinds.
"CFPB has returned more than $20,000,000,000 to consumers since it was founded," said Rep. Gabe Amo (D-R.I.) on Friday evening in response to Musk's tweet. "Let's be clear: the people cheering this the loudest are scammers and people who don't want you to keep your hard-earned dollars. So much for lowering costs."
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Consumer Advocates Decry Musk 'Minions' as DOGE Targets CFPB
"It sounds like the plot of a bad Bond movie but it's real and the American people are the real victims."
Feb 07, 2025
Consumer advocates on Friday called on allies to defend the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency after reports indicated DOGE personnel had entered the agency's office and possibly obtained access to its online databases.
Members of the CFPB Union NTEU 335, part of the National Treasury Employees Union, published a press release, later deleted from their website, noting that the names of three staffers of DOGE appeared in the consumer protection agency's internal staff directory Thursday evening—signaling that the CFPB is the latest target of Musk's illegal plunder of numerous federal offices.
Numerous outlets—includingWired and Punchbowl News—confirmed that the DOGE personnel had been granted access to CFPB offices and databases. Politico, citing people familiar with the developments, also reported the three individuals had been added as "senior advisers" to the agency.
The CFPB Union, in the now-deleted statement, identified the DOGE staffers as former Big Pharma lobbyist Chris Young; former Tesla and X employee Nikhil Rajpal; and Gavin Kliger, an "Elon fanboy" who graduated from University of California, Berkeley in 2020.
"When he's not stealing Americans' private information with DOGE, Kliger enjoys writing lengthy essays defending rapists and retweeting white supremacists," said the union's statement, citing the staffer's Substack where he has written positively about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), both accused of sexual abuse. "Kliger's lawyer daddy works at Experian, which is the same company CFPB sued in January for covering up errors on credit reports with sham investigations."
"CFPB Union members welcome our newest colleagues and look forward to the smell of Axe Body Spray in our elevators."
The union further mocked Kliger's "alleged" coding career and said that in contrast to the "zero to three git commits" he made in the last year, "workers at the CFPB returned $1.3 billion to scammed Americans in that time."
"CFPB Union members welcome our newest colleagues and look forward to the smell of Axe Body Spray in our elevators," said the workers.
"While acting Director [Scott] Bessent allows Musk's operatives to bypass cybersecurity policies and wreak havoc with their amateur code skills inside CFPB's once-secure systems, CFPB Union members fight to protect our jobs so we can continue protecting Americans from scammers with conflicts of interest like Musk," they said.
According to Wired's reporting:
In an email early Friday morning, CFPB staff were told that several people from DOGE—including [Rajpal, Kliger, and Young]—entered the agency building Thursday evening. The email stated that they would require access to CFPB data, systems, and equipment, following a message sent Thursday by CFPB chief operating officer Adam Martinez confirming that the DOGE employees were to receive "read-only access."
"DOGE arrived tonight and will be back tomorrow. They are going to need read-only access to our HR (HR Connect/NFC), procurement (PRISM), and finance (Discoverer) system," said Martinez. "I let them know that we utilize BFS/ARC so if they already have access, then they should be able to pull our data. Otherwise, if they do not have access to BFS/ARC, then we will need to work with them to fill out the necessary forms to gain access." BFS/ARC is the Bureau of the Fiscal Service's Administrative Resource Center, which provides administrative services, like timekeeping travel days or benefits, for a number of government agencies.
Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich noted that DOGE's targeting of the CFPB comes days after Trump dismissed former Director Rohit Chopra.
"American's financial privacy and safety [is] at risk as DOGE arrives at CFPB," said the Center for Digital Democracy, in response to various reporting. "The CFPB has saved American taxpapers and consumers billions... Undermining American financial security must be stopped."
In recent days, DOGE employees have arrived at the Departments of Labor, Education, and the Treasury, among other federal agencies, seizing access to data about millions of Americans, setting up illegal servers, and placing employees on administrative leave.
The White House and Musk have claimed the effort is aimed at reducing "waste" and improving "efficiency" within government, but comments from U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) this week signaled the administration is searching for ways to slash spending for numerous public services in the interest of extending the 2017 tax cuts for the wealthiest earners.
The union suggested Musk wants to take over the CFPB, which he called to "delete" late last year, to clear the way for a partnership between his social media platform, X, and Visa. The credit card company wants to offer payments on the platform, and "notably, the CFPB recently obtained the authority to supervise major payment apps," said the NTEU.
Earlier this week, DOGE staffers arrived at the Department of Labor, which has filed multiple complaints against Musk's companies.
"The world's richest man just dispatched his minions to root around the systems of a government watchdog responsible for policing payment schemes like the one just announced for his own company," Emily Peterson-Cassin, corporate power director of the Demand Progress Education Fund, said in response to the union's account. "It sounds like the plot of a bad Bond movie but it's real and the American people are the real victims."
"Musk’s dreams of an 'everything app' that reaches into people's bank accounts paired with his sweeping, unchecked access to the levers of government opens up the potential for breathtaking corruption," said Peterson-Cassin. "His intrusion into CFPB systems also sends a clear message that he has no interest whatsoever in policing his own conflicts of interest. Musk must be stopped from dismantling the very mechanisms of the federal government that can prevent him from looting the American people."
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