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In 'Blatant Gift' to Musk's X Money Scheme, Republicans Move to Further Gut CFPB
"Elon Musk wants to cripple consumer protections for digital payment apps and the U.S. Senate is doing his bidding."
Mar 05, 2025
Republicans in the U.S. Senate are expected to vote Wednesday to rescind a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule aimed at safeguarding the public from scammers on digital payment apps, a move that would directly benefit billionaire Elon Musk's effort to transform his social media platform into a virtual wallet as well as Trump Media's foray into financial services.
"Musk wants to cripple consumer protections for digital payment apps and the U.S. Senate is doing his bidding," Emily Peterson-Cassin, corporate power director at Demand Progress, said in a statement ahead of the vote, which is expected late Wednesday afternoon.
"Not only does Musk want X, a platform swarming with bots and crypto scams, to be able to reach into your bank account, he also wants to defang and 'delete' the agency responsible for ensuring that X Money follows federal standards for data security and fraudulent payment disputes," Peterson-Cassin added. "Senators must side with American consumers, and not online scammers, by voting 'NO' on this dangerous bill."
The vote will come as Musk and President Donald Trump work to gut the CFPB by firing much of its staff and halting its work to protect consumers from corporate abuses.
On Tuesday, the CFPB—currently under the control of far-right ideologue and Project 2025 architect Russell Vought—dropped its lawsuit against the digital payment platform Zelle and major Wall Street banks, which were accused of "failing to protect consumers from widespread fraud."
Demand Progress said Wednesday that the vote on the GOP-led Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution, which requires just a simple-majority vote to pass both chambers of Congress, is "the latest in a damning and telling chain of events benefiting Elon Musk."
The group laid out the timeline:
- November 21, 2024: The CFPB finalizes a rule enabling the agency to proactively supervise digital payment apps;
- November 27, 2024: Musk tweets 'Delete CFPB';
- January 28, 2025: X CEO announces that X Money will debut with a partnership with Visa;
- February 7, 2025: Musk's DOGE staffers enter the CFPB and kick off an effort to shut it down; and
- March 5, 2025: The Senate is set to vote on legislation to revoke the CFPB's digital payments rule.
"Every step of the way, Musk has gotten closer to launching X Money without a watchdog to ensure that the platform adheres to federal rules mandating data security standards, disputes for fraudulent payments, consumer protections against debanking, and more," said Demand Progress.
During floor debate on Senate Republicans' attempt to revoke the CFPB's digital payment rule, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said sardonically that he is "sure it has nothing to do with the fact that Elon Musk wants to start a payment app."
The New York Timesnoted last month that "at X, one of the most promising ways Mr. Musk can increase profits is through a payments business, which could charge fees for transactions."
"Building out that business would be easier without having to contend with a regulator like the consumer bureau, which has a recent track record of bringing cases against payment companies," the Times added.
Tony Carrk, executive director of the watchdog group Accountable.US, said in a statement Wednesday that the Republican push to rescind the CFPB rule "only serves Big Tech and the personal finances of Trump and Musk themselves."
"This is a blatant gift to industry donors and the wealthy, allowing companies like Apple, PayPal, and X Money to avoid federal laws designed to protect consumers from fraud and abuse," said Carrk. "Payment apps are no longer a novelty; these companies process over 13 billion transactions a year. Users deserve a safe and secure experience, but they won't get that if Republicans get their way. Today's vote is the latest, glaring example of Trump and Republicans undermining consumer protections all in service of making things easier for big corporations and worse for everyday Americans."
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Watchdogs Launch 'No Corporate Cabinet' Site Targeting Trump Appointees
"No Corporate Cabinet calls out the Trump administration for empowering those who prey on Americans on behalf of billionaires and corporations," explained one advocate.
Jan 27, 2025
A coalition of watchdog groups on Monday launched a "No Corporate Cabinet" website raising the alarm about "persons of interest" who were selected to serve in Republican U.S. President Donald Trump's second administration.
"No American executive branch has ever been entirely free of corrupting influence—but this administration appears to be nearly free of anything or anyone that isn't corporate," said Jeff Hauser, executive director and founder of Revolving Door Project, in a statement. "No Corporate Cabinet will be a vehicle by which we can monitor the people who appear to be in government for the purpose of gaining greater wealth and power for themselves and their friends and family."
The website, NoCorporateCabinet.org, came just a week after Inauguration Day. Along with Hauser's group, it is backed by Demand Progress Education Fund, Justice Democrats, Progressive Change Institute, and RootsAction.
"No Corporate Cabinet will be a vehicle by which we can monitor the people who appear to be in government for the purpose of gaining greater wealth and power for themselves and their friends and family."
So far, it features six individuals: Paul Atkins, a Wall Street ally nominated to be Securities and Exchange Commission chair; Scott Bessent, a hedge fund founder and fossil fuel investor nominated to be treasury secretary; Frank Bisignano, a bank executive nominated to be Social Security Administration commissioner; Linda McMahon: a billionaire and former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO nominated to be education secretary; David Sacks: a Big Tech venture capitalist named as Trump's artificial intelligence and crypto czar; and Chris Wright, a fracking executive nominated to be energy secretary.
"Whether inside or outside of government, Paul Atkins... has spent his whole career undermining the federal government's regulation of Wall Street," states the website, highlighting his opposition to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, climate disclosure policies, and investors considering environmental, social, and governance factors. The site adds that he also "frequently disapproved of enforcement actions" and "has long disparaged progressive efforts to shape corporate behavior while praising conservative efforts to dominate politics."
Bessent—whom the Senate is set to vote on Monday evening—is "a former investor for billionaire George Soros" who "made a name for himself by bringing down the British economy in the 'Black Wednesday' scandal of the 1990s," the site says, pointing to investments in oil and gas as well as companies including Meta, Monsanto, and Palantir.
Bisignano "has spent his professional career working for the big banks, prioritizing the corporate profits of the financial industry over the concerns of everyday Americans, for example supporting organizations that support raising the retirement age," the website details. "Bisignano has no experience in government and should have no role in the Trump administration, he would simply represent yet another corporate voice who has been rewarded for their financial support of Donald Trump."
Although Trump has teased dismantling the U.S. Department of Education entirely, in the meantime, he has tapped scandal-plagued McMahon to lead it—despite allegations that she has, as End Rape on Campus CEO Kenyora Parham recently put it, a "documented history of enabling sexual abuse of children and sweeping sexual violence under the rug."
McMahon also "denied health oversight and coverage for her workers, helped bust unions, seems to have dodged federal lawsuits over widespread steroid abuse, ignored her workers' deaths," and " became something of a Republican megadonor," the new website notes. During Trump's first presidency, she led the Small Business Administration.
Sacks "reportedly did not want to step down from his VC firm, Craft Ventures," so he is serving in "a part-time, nonformal role" and "could serve up to 130 days a year without divesting or publicly disclosing his assets," the site explains. "Sacks' long and documented history as a vocal and inflammatory conservative voice does not bode well for the development of egalitarian AI models that prioritize public benefit over innovation."
The full Senate hasn't yet voted on Wright, but his confirmation hearing earlier this month was disrupted by the arrest of climate activists with the youth-led Sunrise Movement—whose executive director, Aru Shiney-Ajay, said: "The climate crisis is here. Oil and gas CEOs like Chris Wright have blood on their hands, and they have no place in our government."
Wright "was the CEO and co-founder of Liberty Energy, an oilfield service and fracking company, and sat on the board of small modular nuclear reactor start-up Oklo," which was "initially denied approval for a nuclear reactor in Idaho after providing inadequate information regarding safety measures," the new site says. "Wright regularly makes public statements downplaying the effects of climate change, carbon pollution, and the environmental impacts of fracking."
Sean Vitka, policy director at Demand Progress Education Fund, said Monday that "Wall Street, Big Tech, Big Pharma, dirty energy, and other corporate interests are only interested in maximizing profits."
"Executives, lobbyists, and donors are reshaping government services and regulatory oversight to enrich corporate America at the expense of everyday Americans," he added. "No Corporate Cabinet calls out the Trump administration for empowering those who prey on Americans on behalf of billionaires and corporations."
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Booze Hound! Lina Khan, Not Done Yet, Targets Nation's Largest Alcohol Seller
"The FTC is doing what our government should be doing: using every tool possible to make life better for everyday Americans," said one advocate.
Dec 12, 2024
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Thursday sued Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits, alleging that the nation's largest alcohol distributor, "violated the Robinson-Patman Act, harming small, independent businesses by depriving them of access to discounts and rebates, and impeding their ability to compete against large national and regional chains."
The FTC said its complaint details how the Florida-based company "is engaged in anticompetitive and unlawful price discrimination" by "selling wine and spirits to small, independent 'mom-and-pop' businesses at prices that are drastically higher" than what it charges large chain retailers, "with dramatic price differences that provide insurmountable advantages that far exceed any real cost efficiencies for the same bottles of wine and spirits."
The suit comes as FTC Chair Lina Khan's battle against "corporate greed" is nearing its end, with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announcing Tuesday that he plans to elevate Andrew Ferguson to lead the agency.
Emily Peterson-Cassin, director of corporate power at Demand Progress Education Fund, said Thursday that "instead of heeding bad-faith calls to disarm before the end of the year, the FTC is taking bold, needed action to fight back against monopoly power that's raising prices."
"By suing Southern Glazer under the Robinson-Patman Act, a law that has gone unenforced for decades, the FTC is doing what our government should be doing: using every tool possible to make life better for everyday Americans," she added.
According to the FTC:
Under the Robinson-Patman Act, it is generally illegal for sellers to engage in price discrimination that harms competition by charging higher prices to disfavored retailers that purchase similar goods. The FTC's case filed today seeks to ensure that businesses of all sizes compete on a level playing field with equivalent access to discounts and rebates, which means increased consumer choice and the ability to pass on lower prices to consumers shopping across independent retailers.
"When local businesses get squeezed because of unfair pricing practices that favor large chains, Americans see fewer choices and pay higher prices—and communities suffer," Khan said in a statement. "The law says that businesses of all sizes should be able to compete on a level playing field. Enforcers have ignored this mandate from Congress for decades, but the FTC's action today will help protect fair competition, lower prices, and restore the rule of law."
The FTC noted that, with roughly $26 billion in revenue from wine and spirits sales to retail customers last year, Southern is the 10th-largest privately held company in the United States. The agency said its lawsuit "seeks to obtain an injunction prohibiting further unlawful price discrimination by Southern against these small, independent businesses."
"When Southern's unlawful conduct is remedied, large corporate chains will face increased competition, which will safeguard continued choice which can create markets that lower prices for American consumers," FTC added.
Southern Glazer's published a statement calling the FTC lawsuit "misguided and legally flawed" and claiming it has not violated the Robinson-Patman Act.
"Operating in the highly competitive alcohol distribution business, we offer different levels of discounts based on the cost we incur to sell different quantities to customers and make all discount levels available to all eligible retailers, including chain stores and small businesses alike," the company said.
Peterson-Cassin noted that the new suit "follows a massive court victory for the FTC on Tuesday in which a federal judge blocked a $25 billion grocery mega-merger after the agency sued," a reference to the proposed Kroger-Albertsons deal.
"The FTC has plenty of fight left and so should all regulatory agencies," she added, alluding to the return of Trump, whose first administration saw
relentless attacks on federal regulations. "We applaud the FTC and Chair Lina Khan for not letting off the gas in the race to protect American consumers and we strongly encourage all federal regulators to do the same while there's still time left."
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