Consumer Financial Protection Agency employees were instructed to suspend “all supervisory activities” and “all stakeholders’ involvement.” evening.
Vought, who was confirmed to lead the management and the Budget Office this week, was appointed acting director for the Consumer Protection Agency, the federal government’s financial industry watchdog. In an email to staff on Saturday, he reaffirmed previous instructions from Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent, who ordered staff not to issue new rules or guidance last week, and ordered all investigations to be suspended. did.
“As a proxy director, I am committed to implementing the President’s policies, consistent with the law and acting as a loyal custodian of the Bureau’s resources,” Vought said in an email obtained by the New York Times. I am writing.
The agency created by Congress as a watchdog for the financial industry in 2011 cannot be closed without a lawsuit from Congress, but its directors have stopped enforcement, weakened regulations, and abolished banks and other companies. By softening the lender’s oversight, you can freeze most of that action. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for an email in comment on Saturday.
The agency has issued many well-known regulations and enforcement measures over the years, seeking to enhance protections for mortgages, credit cards, loans and other consumer finances. Most recently, the bureau sued Capital 1 in mid-January, claiming that the bank misinterpreted its customers to promote high-yield savings accounts.
In a Saturday night post on X, Vought, author of Project 2025, wrote that it was a conservative blueprint for a radical reworking of the federal government, saying that the Finance Bureau said it would “have the next inappropriate draw.” It wrote that it notified the Federal Reserve that it would not be acquired because funding is “not reasonably necessary” to fulfill its obligations. (The agency is funded directly by the Federal Reserve, outside the usual Congressional budget process.)
“In the current fiscal environment, the department’s current $716.6 million balance is actually excessive,” he added in the post. “This spigot, which has long contributed to the inexplainability of the CFPB, is now off,” he said using the agency’s initials.
On Saturday, some members of the union representing Consumer Protection Agency employees were laughing at Elon Musk, who is laughing at the government’s efficiency efforts, as they wreaked havoc on various federal agencies. protested outside a Washington building. Several members of Musk’s team arrived at the agency on Friday morning to access the headquarters and computer systems.
Later that day, Musk posted “CFPB RIP” with the X gravestone emoji. Hours after Musk’s post, the homepage of the station’s website was updated with a message “404: Page Not Found.”
