More than 170 Democratic lawmakers in the House and the Senate are calling on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and White House budget director Russell Vought to boot members of the Elon Musk-run Department of Government Efficiency from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and restore its systems and operations.
“Dismantling this law enforcement agency has long been a priority of the big financial institutions it was created to regulate, and this effort to seize control of the CFPB’s inner workings is the clearest example yet that President Trump is willing to reward the billionaires who backed him, even at the expense of ordinary Americans,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter yesterday to Vought and Bessent.
The Democrats cited reports that at least three DOGE employees entered CFPB headquarters last week and requested access to sensitive information.
“Your efforts to dismantle the CFPB are dangerous, and we will fight them at every turn,” they wrote. “We ask that you remove Mr. Musk’s operatives from the CFPB, restore all internal and external systems and operations, and allow the CFPB to continue to do its job of protecting American consumers.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who helped create the CFPB, was among the letter’s signatories.
Vought, who took over as the CFPB’s acting head, issued directives last week to halt certain activities without the agency, and on Sunday, a union sued Vought over those moves.
