In response to the Trump administration plotting to gut the CFPB, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: 

“The consumer watchdog CFPB has put billions back in the pockets of working families by taking on bad actors who try to steal from everyday families. Now, Donald Trump and the billionaires he’s tapped to run his government are putting CFPB on the chopping block so they can line the pockets of their ultra-wealthy special interest backers.” 

Donald Trump’s administration and his allies — including his billionaire co-lead of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk — are plotting to undermine consumer rights by gutting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 

Washington Post: “President-elect Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are weighing vast changes to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, seeking to limit the powers and funding of a federal watchdog agency formed in the wake of the 2008 banking crisis. …

“On Capitol Hill, meanwhile, Republican lawmakers have suggested they’ll pursue their own legislative overhaul targeting the bureau. In recent weeks, they have proposed to rethink the CFPB’s leadership structure, curtail its investigative powers and tweak its funding source, since the bureau derives its budget from the Federal Reserve in a unique arrangement meant to spare the watchdog from political wrangling and industry lobbying. …

“[S]ome of Trump’s former aides have taken the opposite tack, even suggesting that Congress should eliminate the CFPB. That idea is a core element of Project 2025 — the conservative blueprint for the Trump presidency prepared in part by his former advisers for the Heritage Foundation — which describes the bureau as ‘highly politicized, damaging, and utterly unaccountable.’

“A spokeswoman for Heritage declined to comment. Trump previously has tried to distance himself from Project 2025, though he’s named several of its authors and contributors to his incoming administration.”

Elon Musk: “Delete CFPB. There are too many duplicate regulatory agencies.” 

The CFPB has helped protect consumer interests for 13 years, putting $17.5 billion back in millions of Americans’ pockets. 

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: “Here’s a look at some of the CFPB’s achievements, by the numbers:

“$17.5 billion – The amount of money the CFPB has put back in Americans’ pockets in the form of monetary compensation, principal reductions, canceled debts, and other consumer relief resulting from CFPB enforcement and supervision work

“$4 billion – The amount of money CFPB has imposed in civil money penalties on companies and individuals that violate the law. This money is deposited into the victims relief fund which provides compensation to people who have been harmed by violations of federal consumer financial protection law

“200 million – The estimated number of consumer accounts eligible to receive financial relief from the CFPB’s enforcement and supervision work

“$175 million – The amount of monetary relief resulting from 39 public enforcement actions that involved harm to servicemembers and veterans” 

REMINDER: Trump has a long history of rigging the economy for the ultra-rich — including gutting critical financial protections for working Americans to benefit his billionaire friends.

NPR: “During his presidential campaign, Republican Donald Trump said he would ‘get rid of’ Dodd-Frank — the sweeping legislation passed in 2010 to address problems underlying the 2008-2009 financial crisis. …

“Now President-elect Trump’s transition team is promising to ‘dismantle’ the complex Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.”

New York Times: “‘Dodd-Frank is a disaster,’ the president said during a 10-minute session with reporters as he signed an executive order slashing government regulations.

“‘We’re going to be doing a big number on Dodd-Frank,’ Mr. Trump said. ‘The American dream is back.’”

The Hill: “‘We expect to be cutting a lot out of Dodd-Frank because, frankly, I have so many people, friends of mine, who have nice businesses who can’t borrow money. They just can’t get any money because the banks just won’t let them borrow, because of the rules and regulations in Dodd-Frank,’ Trump said at a Friday morning meeting with CEOs from a number of companies.”

The Guardian: “Donald Trump’s $1.5tn tax cuts have helped billionaires pay a lower rate than the working class for the first time in history.”

Economic Policy Institute: “The TCJA overwhelmingly benefited the rich and corporations while overlooking working families”

Vox: “Trump said this tax break was for small businesses. It’s giving $17 billion to millionaires this year”

CBS News: “Two years after Trump tax cuts, middle-class Americans are falling behind”