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elizabeth warren
'There's Power in Fighting Back': Court Battle Halts Purge of Consumer Agency
One attorney cited "credible reports" that a reduction in force and data destruction were "imminent."
Feb 14, 2025
A federal judge in Washington, D.C. announced Friday that the Trump administration has agreed to halt its mass firings at a consumer protection agency, refrain from defunding it, and retain "vast troves" of data while a legal battle plays out.
The National Treasury Employees Union, Public Citizen Litigation Group, and Gupta Wessler LLP sued on Thursday, after employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) began getting termination notices earlier this week as part of Republican President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk's purge of the federal workforce.
Reutersreported that "in court on Friday afternoon, union representatives had said they believed the government was planning to eviscerate the CFPB, possibly as soon as the same day, beginning the process of dismissing all remaining staff, canceling the agency's lease, and returning its funds to the Federal Reserve."
In a brief order, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson explained that under a deal reached at the Friday conference, the agency and acting Director Russell Vought "shall not terminate any CFPB employee, except for cause related to the specific employee's performance or conduct" nor "issue any notice of reduction-in-force to any CFPB employee."
Jackson, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, wrote that the bureau and its acting director also cannot:
- transfer money from the CFPB's reserve funds, other than to satisfy the ordinary operating obligations of the CFPB;
- relinquish control or ownership of the CFPB's reserve funds, nor grant control or ownership of the CFPB's reserve funds to any other entity;
- return any money from the CFPB's reserve funds to the Federal Reserve or the Department of Treasury; or
- otherwise take steps to reduce the amount of money available to the CFPB below the amount available as of 4:00 pm on February 14, 2025, other than to satisfy the ordinary operating obligations of the CFPB.
Additionally, the agency and Vought—who formally leads the White House Office of Management and Budget—"shall not delete, destroy, remove, or impair any data or other CFPB records covered by the Federal Records Act," according to the judge.
Celebrating the order on social media Friday, attorney Deepak Gupta said that "we had credible reports" a reduction in force—the government term for layoffs—was coming at the agency long targeted by Republicans and "data destruction was imminent."
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—the former law professor who first proposed and then helped build the CFPB—also welcomed the development on Friday while blasting Trump and Musk, who heads the president's so-called Department of Government Efficiency and has a direct interest in destroying the CFPB.
"A judge just blocked Elon Musk and co-president Donald Trump from firing the financial cops at the CFPB who protect consumers from Wall Street scams," Warren said on the Musk-owned platform X. "There's power in fighting back."
As Government Executivereported Friday:
Jackson will hold a hearing on March 3 to determine whether to issue a longer-lasting preliminary injunction on the Trump administration's moves.
Another federal judge acted similarly to restrain the administration's efforts at the U.S. Agency for International Development, where such an order will remain in effect at least through Feburary 21. The agency had placed virtually all of its employees on administrative leave and had ordered its staff abroad to abruptly return home, but the judge unwound both of those actions.
The development in the D.C. court followed another deal on Thursday to prevent the Trump administration from defunding the CFPB. That case was filed by Democracy Forward on behalf of the city of Baltimore and the Economic Action Maryland Fund.
"The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau protects all Americans from predatory and discriminatory practices. It has returned $20 billion back to the American public, yet again, it is unfortunate we have had to resort to litigation to protect this consumer watchdog," Democracy Forward president and CEO Skye Perryman said Thursday. "We are pleased the government has agreed to keep its hands off the bureau's funding until the court can hear this case."
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Democratic Senators to Trump and DOGE: 'Hands Off' Medicare, Medicaid
"We strongly oppose any efforts by Musk—or anyone else in your administration—cutting or damaging these vital programs," the lawmakers wrote.
Feb 12, 2025
Amid mounting concerns over Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency's unprecedented access to payment and contracting systems at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services—and wider fears that the Trump administration and congressional Republicans will slash spending on crucial public programs—Democratic U.S. senators on Wednesday wrote to President Donald Trump, urging him not to cut more holes in the nation's social safety net.
"We write to say no to Elon Musk and DOGE, and demand hands off Medicare or Medicaid. We strongly oppose any efforts by Musk—or anyone else in your administration—cutting or damaging these vital programs," Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the minority leader, wrote in a letter to Trump signed by two dozen other Democratic senators and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
"Medicare and Medicaid must not be raided to pay for tax cuts for billionaires."
"Medicare and Medicaid must not be raided to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. Every cut risks Americans paying more, waiting longer, and wading through more insurance red tape for care," the senators added. "Every cut risks hospitals and community health centers struggling harder to keep their doors open and forcing health providers and workers out of their jobs."
"It is dangerously unacceptable that an unelected Musk and his unqualified acolytes have access to sensitive CMS systems and are ready to bypass Congress to make life-and-death decisions affecting millions of Americans," they argued. "No one asked for this lawless approach to our critical government healthcare systems. We urge you to stop this threat to Americans' healthcare, now."
The letter states:
We continue to fight for a healthcare system that works better for all Americans, so they experience lower costs, shorter wait times, and receive better care. But your administration, Elon Musk, and DOGE have already made that harder. Your administration is already responsible for the shutdown of Medicaid portals across all 50 states, disruptions to vital healthcare communication, closures of community health centers, and significant delays in funding for lifesaving health research. Cuts to Medicare and Medicaid will only serve to deepen the harm.
The lawmakers' letter came on the same day that House Republicans introduced a draft budget resolution that recommends $4.5 trillion in tax breaks that would disproportionately benefit the ultrarich, while slashing $2 trillion to Medicaid, federal nutrition assistance, and other programs.
"Republicans are pulling a fast one on working people by reaching into their pockets to pay for billionaire handouts," Warren said in response to the Republican proposal. "Make no mistake: This GOP plan will raise the cost that American families pay for groceries, healthcare, and getting an education—all to fund tax cuts for the ultrarich."
A survey published Tuesday by Data For Progress, Student Borrower Protection Center, and Groundwork Collaborative reaffirmed the deep unpopularity of slashing spending on social services.
NEW with @groundwork.bsky.social work and @thesbpc.bsky.social: Rather than give tax breaks to corporations and wealthy households, voters want programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP to be protected or expanded. www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2025/2/...
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— Data for Progress (@dataforprogress.org) February 11, 2025 at 1:10 PM
"The poll shows that many government programs are very popular with likely voters: Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] each have support from more than 3 in 4 respondents," Data for Progress said.
"Voters support increasing funding for Social Security and Medicare, and few want to see cuts to other popular government programs, the pollster added. "Over 80% of voters want to increase funding or keep funding the same for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP."
Earlier this week, lawmakers, advocates, and beneficiaries of safety net programs gathered outside the Social Security Administration headquarters in Maryland to tell Musk "hands off" Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Speakers included the state's two Democratic senators, Angela Alsobrooks and Chris Van Hollen, who both also signed the Wednesday letter to Trump.
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Trump FTC Urged to Probe Egg Giants Reaping 'Dramatic' Profits by Keeping Prices High
"Evidence indicates that by not increasing their supply, the five dominant egg firms are forcing prices to stay high while reporting dramatic profit increases and level sales," according to the group Farm Action.
Feb 12, 2025
An advocacy group dedicated to fighting corporate agriculture monopolies on Wednesday urged federal antitrust enforcers to take action against egg producers that the group accuses of taking advantage of the bird flu crisis in order to raise prices, inflate their profits, and consolidate their market power.
What's more, the slow recovery of "flock size"—the total number of egg-laying hens—"despite historically high prices, further suggests coordinated efforts to restrict supply and sustain inflated prices" that warrants investigation, according to a letter sent by Farm Action president Angela Huffman to Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson and Acting Assistant Attorney General Omeed Assefi, who has been tapped to temporarily lead the DOJ antitrust division.
The letter, which invokes the behavior of "dominant egg producers," largely provides data on one company, Cal-Maine Foods, the biggest producer and marketer of shell eggs in the country.
Separately, Democratic voices are urging the Trump administration to take action around corporate conduct as it relates to food prices. FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya, a Biden appointee, has also urged Ferguson to open an investigation into egg production and marketing practices—pointing to a 2023 request from Farm Action to the FTC to investigate potential antitrust violations in the egg industry.
And last week Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote that she had sent President Donald Trump a list of ways he "can use his executive authority to tackle high food costs by focusing on corporate profiteering."
Egg prices have risen starting in 2022, coinciding with the arrival of bird flu in the United States, and are likely to keep rising in 2025.
The wholesale price of "Grade-A, Large, White, Shell Eggs" rose from $0.50-$1.30 per dozen in 2021 to $1.50-$5.00 per dozen in 2022, and then eased in 2023 before climbing up again in 2024. As of January 2025, the national index of weekly prices for that same type of eggs was up to $6.00-$8.00 per dozen, according to Farm Action.
"The previous all-time high [for wholesale prices] was late December 2022 heading into Christmas, when we touched $5.46 per dozen," Ryan Hojnowski, a market reporter at Expana, wrote in an e-mail to CNBC. "Of course we have blown way past that this time."
Retail prices have also increased. Retail prices for large, Grade-A eggs reached an average of $4.25 per dozen in December 2022 after never reaching above $3 a dozen in the 2010s. Retail prices declined in 2023 and then rose again throughout 2024, reaching $4.15 per dozen in December of last year.
Farm Action argues that while bird flu has been cited as the main driver for rising egg prices, its actual impact on production has been minimal. According to the letter, bird flu has forced the culling of roughly 115 million egg-laying chickens, but the impact of these losses on the total size of the U.S. supply of egg-laying flock has been "relatively modest." Huffman wrote that this culling has caused egg production to drop from 8.1 billion eggs per month in 2021 to 7.75 billion eggs per month at the end of 2024.
But crucially, according to the letter, per capita production of eggs has not been below per capita consumption of eggs in any year between 2022 and the present—while the total value of egg production has risen from $8.8 billion in 2021 to $17.9 billion in 2023.
Cal-Maine specifically has seen its profits soar. The company tallied gross profits of $179.6 million in fiscal year 2020, but the producer reported $1.2 billion and $541.6 million in gross profits in fiscal year 2023 and 2024, respectively, according to the letter. Between fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2024, sale levels have remained fairly consistent, wrote Huffman.
"Evidence indicates that by not increasing their supply, the five dominant egg firms are forcing prices to stay high while reporting dramatic profit increases and level sales. These same firms are then using their increased profits to acquire their competition, further driving market consolidation instead of investing in replenishing or expanding their flocks," Farm Action wrote in a statement on Wednesday.
As evidence, they cite a number of mergers that took place in the industry in 2023, and point to the fact that the top five egg producers' share of the "U.S. layer hen flock" increased from 37% to 46% between 2023 and 2025.
"There appears to be a remarkable unwillingness among large egg producers to invest in the internal reconstruction or expansion of their egg-laying flocks in response to persistently high prices," wrote Huffman, which she contrasts with the quicker flock recovery that took place during the first bird flu outbreak in 2014-2015.
The "lagging recovery" and "the fact that egg producers are showing unusual discipline in their pricing and output decisions" indicates that market forces are not "operating as they should be." The letter suggests a few factors that may contribute to the lack of competition.
The group is urging the two agencies to launch investigations, specifically encouraging the FTC to launch an investigation into pricing and production practices of dominant egg producers and their hatchery suppliers to make sure the market is "truly free and fair."
This is far from the first time that the food and grocery industry has been accused of inappropriately raising prices.
In August 2024, a top executive at the supermarket chain Kroger even admitted under questioning from a Federal Trade Commission attorney that the grocery chain raised its egg and milk prices above the rate of inflation.
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