The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will be shut down for a week, according to multiple reports.
The CFPB’s Chief Operating Officer Adam Martinez said in a Sunday email that there would be a Monday to Friday closure of the headquarters of the CFPB in Washington, D.C., The Washington Post reported.
The Office of Management and Budget’s Director, Russell Vought, has been recently attempting to crack down on the CFPB’s activities. In a social media post late Saturday night, he said he had “notified the Federal Reserve that CFPB will not be taking its next draw of unappropriated funding because it is not ‘reasonably necessary’ to carry out its duties.”
“The Bureau’s current balance of $711.6 million is in fact excessive in the current fiscal environment. This spigot, long contributing to CFPB’s unaccountability, is now being turned off,” Vought added.
NBC News has also reported that Vought sent an email to employees unveiling a series of directives for the CFPB that would instantly go into effect. Employees were told in the email to “cease all supervision and examination activity,” “cease all stakeholder engagement,” halt every pending investigation, not put forth any public communications and stop “enforcement actions,” per NBC.
Vought, who has faced Democratic attacks in relation to his ties to Project 2025, was confirmed earlier this week. Democrats pushed back against his nomination during hearings in past weeks as well as press conferences.
“He’s the wrong man – he seems to care little about the needs of American families; at the wrong place – at powerful OMB, where his decisions will be felt in every corner of the country; with the wrong agenda – the horrible Project 2025,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said prior to the Senate voting to confirm Vought.
The Hill has reached out to the CFPB and the White House for comment.
