Vought is the acting director of the CFPB. He ordered employees to work remotely for this week on Saturday while the Trump administration’s DOGE works on correcting inefficiencies across the federal government.
One of the two suits filed aims to block DOGE employee access to the agency, while the other takes aim at Vought’s order to halt work at the agency and refuse funding for the moment. Under his directive, employees are not allowed to issue new rules, end or begin investigations, or order public communications, among other things. The union filing the lawsuits is the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents employees in the CFPB.
The DOGE lawsuit is aimed at its potential ability to access employees’ personal information.
“These employees face irreparable harm to their privacy interests if their employee information is improperly accessed and/or disseminated by individuals associated with DOGE,” the lawsuit says. “Once an employee’s personnel information is improperly disclosed, the harm to the employee cannot be undone.”
Three DOGE employees were reportedly onboarded into the bureau’s communications system. The union said Vought told the bureau to give them “access to all non-classified CFPB systems.”
The other lawsuit tells a judge “that Defendant Vought’s directive to the CFPB’s employees to stop their supervision and enforcement work is unlawful” and that they should stop Vought from additional attempts to pause work. It also says that his refusal of funding “reflects an unlawful attempt to thwart Congress’s decision to create the CFPB to protect American consumers.”
In a potential sign of changes for the agency, the CFPB’s homepage on its website displays a “404: Page not found” error, and its X account no longer exists. Vought said on Saturday night that he informed the Federal Reserve that the “CFPB will not be taking its next draw of unappropriated funding because it is not ‘reasonably necessary’ to carry out its duties.”
On Sunday morning, he reposted a Washington Examiner op-ed titled, “Trump must cancel CFPB censorship.” Vought commented, “The CFPB has been a woke & weaponized agency against disfavored industries and individuals for a long time. This must end.”
The Senate confirmed Vought on Thursday night. He drew some controversy from Democrats for authoring a section of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025. “With their confirmation vote, Senate Republicans have not only endorsed Mr. Vought—they have also endorsed the dystopian and authoritarian Project 2025 agenda Mr. Vought will inflict on the American people as head of OMB,” Oversight Committee ranking member Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) said in a statement.
The Trump administration has already removed former CFPB Director Rohit Chopra, who was slammed in the article for leading an agency that “weaponized enforcement against specific industries and viewpoints.”
The White House sent out a memo on Monday titled, “CFPB Isn’t a Wall Street Regulator, It’s a Main Street Regulator.” The memo says the CFPB is “the brainchild of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)” and “has long functioned as another woke, weaponized arm of the bureaucracy that leverages its power against certain industries and individuals disfavored by so-called ‘elites.’”
It cites examples of the agency’s alleged overreaches, including a warning from the Biden administration to banks in 2023 to avoid over-relying on a person’s immigration status to determine whether to lend to them.
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“Under the administration of President Donald J. Trump, the weaponization ends right now,” the memo ends.
It’s unclear whether the Trump administration is shutting down the CFPB entirely or whether the bureau is just set for significant change.
