Nearly 200 Democratic and independent members of Congress this week filed an amicus brief urging the courts to halt what they said is the Trump administration’s attempt to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
CFPB Acting Director Russell Vought has laid off most of the bureau staff, closed bureau offices and declined to request funding for the agency from the Federal Reserve. His actions have been challenged in federal court by the union representing CFPB employees and by Democratic state attorneys general. Separate courts have paused the layoffs and directed the Trump administration to continue funding the agency, although the lawsuits are still ongoing.
In an amicus brief filed ahead of a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit hearing later this month, the lawmakers argue that the Trump administration’s actions are unconstitutional because only Congress has the authority to create and abolish government agencies.
“Because the power to abolish executive branch agencies belongs to Congress, [administration officials] cannot unilaterally shutter the CFPB nor render it incapable of fulfilling its statutory obligations,” they said. “Allowing them to do so would not only irreparably harm America’s consumers and the national economy but also wreak havoc on our constitutional separation of powers.”
In conjunction with the court filing, the Democratic minority on the Senate Banking Committee released a report alleging that the administration’s efforts to close the CFPB have cost Americans up to $19 billion over the past year.
