The Trump administration, most especially the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been doing great, great work at identifying waste in government spending (not to mention outright fraud) and even setting up to shut down entire departments and agencies. One such is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the brainchild of Massachusett’s most famous radical-left senator, she of the famously high cheekbones, Elizabeth Warren (D-MA.)
President Trump has fired the former head of the CFPB, Rohit Chopra, and the acting Director, Russ Vought, immediately froze all new funding for the bureau.
Pursuant to the Consumer Financial Protection Act, I have 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…
— Russ Vought (@russvought) February 9, 2025
That looks like a man setting this organization up to be shut down. But in this case, and probably in others, we shouldn’t get too agitated if they aren’t closed up within a mere few days. As it turns out, in the case of the CFPB, there are Biden-era regulatory proposals that have to be backed out, some by congressional review, or else they will go into effect — and I think we can all agree, if there’s one thing we really don’t need, it’s more Biden-era regulatory proposals.
A report from Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, a law firm that advises on regulatory issues, has a report detailing the CFPB’s open actions, noting which require review by Congress under the Congressional Review Act (CRA.) You can see the full report from Davis Wright Tremaine here. Some examples:
1) A final rule on something called the “Prohibition on Creditors and Consumer Reporting Agencies Concerning Medical Information (Regulation V).” This bans the inclusion of medical bills on credit reports. The CFPB released the final rule before President Trump’s inauguration, and it was published in the Federal Register on January 14, 2025. Congress has the authority to review this under the CRA.
2) Another final rule, on the “Residential Property Assessed Clean Energy Financing (Regulation 7.)” This prescribes something called an “ability-to-repay” rule for Property Assessed Clean Energy financing. This was published in the Federal Register on January 1st, 2025. Congress, again, has the authority to review this under the CRA.
3) Another final rule, this one on the “Overdraft Lending: Very Large Financial Institutions Final Rule,” updates regulatory exceptions for overdraft credit provided by very large financial institutions. Published in the Federal Register on December 30, 2024. Congress still has the authority to review under the CRA.
Here’s where some caution comes in: One would think that, in the case of the CFPB and other agencies and bureaus with open actions, the wise move would be to maintain at least a skeleton staff until all of these open actions are decided.
See Related: Acting CFPB Director Freezes Funding for the Agency
Trump Fires Head of CFPB and Gets a Surprising Acting Direct
Trimming the federal government back to its proper, constitutional size won’t be done overnight. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and it didn’t collapse overnight; the same thing applies here. Downsize, yes; eliminate as much as possible, including entire cabinet-level agencies, sure. But let’s make sure there aren’t any hidden booby traps awaiting us in the process.
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