President Donald Trump’s nominee to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau told the Senate Banking Committee Thursday that he would not prejudge whether to pursue pending plans by the administration to fire most of CFPB’s remaining staff.
Brian Johnson, an executive with Capital One, avoided directly answering questions from Democratic senators about whether the CFPB should be eliminated, as Trump and the agency’s current director have said publicly.
Russell Vought, Trump’s budget director and acting CFPB director, is scheduled to step down next week after 18 months, during which federal courts blocked efforts to dismantle the agency, Reuters reported. During that period, Vought halted almost all CFPB activities and sought to fire the vast majority of its staff while dropping a string of pending enforcement actions.
Officials have said that litigation is paused to allow Johnson to consider whether to pursue plans for mass firings.
“I would pledge to you to have an open mind to take a look at staffing levels with the agency,” Johnson said.
Johnson was asked if he could name any of Vought’s policy decisions with which he disagreed, and Johnson replied: “None come to mind at the moment.” Johnson suggested that his preference would be for fundamental changes to the agency’s legal structure rather than outright elimination.
“I have testified in the past that properly structured and properly governed, the CFPB is capable of great good,” Johnson said. “However, I think there are deficiencies in the current legislative structure, and I have advocated in the past for changes.”
Congress created the agency after the 2008 financial crash to prevent predatory lending and other misconduct in consumer financial products.
Republicans have attacked the CFPB as a politicized burden on free enterprise, but defenders say it has returned billions to harmed consumers.
Reuters reported that Johnson is the third person to be nominated to lead the agency since Trump returned to office last year, although the White House withdrew both prior nominees.
Widely seen as a knowledgeable industry insider, Johnson has in the past also been a vocal critic of the CFPB. David Silberman, a former CFPB official whose tenure overlapped with Johnson’s, said he expected Johnson would not seek to kill the agency.
“I do not think he would pursue an agenda of decapitating the CFPB although I believe he will feel obligated to carry out the president’s directives and policy priorities,” said Silberman.
