Acting Director Russell Vought of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) received a letter today from Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the leading Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee. In the letter, Waters voiced concern about rumors that Vought is thinking of putting CFPB staff on furlough in case of a government shutdown.
Ranking Member Waters blasted any possible action as detrimental and legally illegitimate, emphasizing that the CFPB’s funding is intentionally unrelated to the yearly appropriations process and protected from any shutdown attempt. Waters cautioned that staff furloughs will merely be used as a pretext to carry out the Trump Administration’s continuous attempts to undermine and eventually eliminate the CFPB.
“I write to you with concern, as President Trump seems determined to shut down the Federal government, regarding reports that you might be considering furloughing employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in the event of a government shutdown on October 1, 2025. Such an action would be both legally baseless and extremely harmful to American consumers at a time when they are suffering from the Trump Administration’s harmful economic policies that are increasing inflation and unemployment,” wrote Ranking Member Waters.
She continued by warning that such a move will have disastrous effects on millions of American consumers and the whole economy, particularly as families deal with growing expenses and job losses, in addition to the public employees who are essential to achieving the agency’s goal.
“Using a government shutdown as a pretext to furlough staff would not only violate the CFPB’s statutory mandate but would cause direct harm to American consumers. With fewer staff available to investigate violations of consumer financial protection laws, pursue enforcement actions, and stop predatory practices, bad actors in the financial sector will continue to operate unchecked,” Waters added.
Waters concluded by calling on Acting Director Vought to put an immediate end to these illegal practices, safeguard CFPB employees, and collaborate with Congress to undo the damaging and unnecessary budget cuts that Republicans and the Trump Administration pushed earlier this Congress, which have already made consumers more susceptible to financial fraud and predatory practices.
To read more, click here.
