U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), on behalf of 40 Democratic Senators, wrote a letter to CFPB Acting Director Russell Vought on April 28, 2025, expressing "grave concerns" about the agency's ability to fulfill more than 80 congressionally mandated functions in light of the CFPB's April 17, 2025, Reduction-in-Force (RIF).
Sen. Warren, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, emphasized that the agency's "hasty and unjustified" RIF, which would terminate almost 1,500 of the agency's remaining 1,700 employees, constitutes "an illegal shutdown of the CFPB that will leave it unable to conduct agency actions that are required by law." Sen. Warren went on to highlight the fact that the remaining 200 employees would be left to run all agency operations, specifically to "supervise and examine large financial institutions across the country, respond to millions of consumer complaints, answer the phone for hundreds of thousands of people seeking help and monitor emergency financial risks."
The Trump Administration has faced challenges to its attempt to scale back the scope of the CFPB on several fronts. Created as part of the Dodd-Frank Act in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the CFPB is a congressionally established agency. Although agency directors have discretion in how to conduct day-to-day operations, the CFPB is required to perform more than 80 statutory functions. "Maintaining the staff to perform the agency's required functions is a critical responsibility," and although the CFPB's goal is to eliminate unnecessary roles, Sen. Warren, as well as CFPB directors from Republican and Democratic administrations, expressed that "it is not possible for the CFPB to perform all of its statutorily required functions with a staff of 200 people."
Sen. Warren and the Democratic members of the Banking Committee requested that Vought and the CFPB provide the following information by May 7, 2025:
- a detailed accounting of the more than 80 statutory obligations of the CFPB
- the number of employees assigned to each statutory function as of December 2024
- the number of employees who would be assigned to each function if the "rushed reduction in force" were to be implemented
- the immediate impact of the RIF on the agency's ability to perform each statutory function consistent with federal law and federal court orders
- copies of any individualized or particularized analysis of the planned reductions on the agency's work
Sen. Warren's letter to Vought comes days after the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) agreed to "review matters relating to the recent actions undertaken at the [CFPB], including efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)." The GAO, a legislative watchdog agency, agreed to conduct an investigation into the Trump Administration's recent actions after Sens. Warren and Andy Kim (D-N.J.) requested a comprehensive review.
Senate Democrats and the GAO are the latest involved in the effort to investigate and curtail the CFPB's attempts to utilize RIFs as a means to dismantle the agency. On April 18, 2025, Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia enjoined the CFPB from implementing the recent RIF and categorized it as one "that will decimate the agency and render it unable to comply with its statutory duties." Days after Judge Jackson's order, the court also enjoined the CFPB from conducting any RIFs, pending appeal, as Holland & Knight previously reported.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
