Washington, D.C. – Representative Maggie Goodlander joined her colleagues in sending a letter to Acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director, Scott Bessent. In the letter, the lawmakers urge Treasury Secretary Bessent to immediately reverse his decision to freeze many of the agency’s critical enforcement activities and delay key rules from taking effect. The lawmakers also demanded specific answers by February 14th with regard to how the Treasury Secretary plans to address consequences that consumers may face as a result of the freeze, as well as how he intends to hold financial institutions accountable and protect American consumers moving forward.
This letter also follows reports that Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency have embedded itself inside the CFPB – yet another sign that Musk and the Administration are quickly ramping up efforts to shutter the agency, making good on Musk’s proclamation that the CFPB is “RIP” and following up on his earlier promise to “delete” the CFPB.
“We are 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,” wrote the lawmakers. “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.”
Following President Trump’s premature removal of CFPB Director Rohit Chopra — despite his term running through 2026 — he named Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to serve as Acting Director. Bessent’s first move was to immediately suspend many key CFPB operations. Bessent’s stop work order threatens to delay if not block relief from a wide range of unlawful practices that have cost our nation’s working-class families billions of dollars. For example, the order may delay resolving litigation where the CFPB sought remediation for alleged victims, such as a recent lawsuit alleging certain violations against Capital One relating to interest payments, or another case alleging violations involving JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and fraud happening on the Zelle payment app.
Under the leadership of former Director Chopra, the CFPB successfully returned $21 billion to consumers harmed by predatory financial practices, initiated 117 enforcement actions, and secured over $2.2 billion in relief for consumers during Trump’s first term alone. Acting Director Bessent’s order threatens to undermine this important work and ultimately fulfill Trump’s and Elon Musk’s unlawful and unpopular plan to completely “delete” the CFPB despite the broad bipartisan support the agency enjoys from working-class families.
