White House Budget Director Aims to Shutter CFPB

White House budget director Russell Vought announced Wednesday that he intends to shut down the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a position that appears to contradict the Trump administration’s arguments in ongoing court proceedings, according to Courthouse News.

Vought made the statement during an appearance on “The Charlie Kirk Show,” where he said that only a few employees remain at the CFPB’s Washington headquarters “while we close down the agency.” He added, “So we want to put it out and we will be successful probably within the next two or three months.”

His comments come as the administration faces multiple legal challenges over efforts to curtail or dismantle the CFPB, an agency established by Congress after the 2008 financial crisis to protect consumers from predatory lending and other abusive financial practices. Per Courthouse News, the administration is currently entangled in litigation involving a CFPB labor union and consumer advocacy groups, which argue that President Donald Trump lacks the authority to fire most of the bureau’s staff or dissolve the agency entirely.

Vought reiterated long-standing Republican criticisms that the CFPB has overreached its authority and unfairly targeted small financial institutions. “All they want to do is weaponize the tools of financial laws against basically small mom-and-pop lenders and other small financial institutions,” he said.

The CFPB has long been a political flashpoint. According to Courthouse News, defenders of the agency say it has returned billions of dollars to consumers and played a key role in curbing deceptive financial practices, while opponents argue it operates without sufficient oversight and stifles economic growth.

Although the Trump administration has repeatedly claimed in court filings that it does not intend to abolish the CFPB, it has moved to drastically reduce its staff and enforcement actions. Under Trump’s direction, the bureau halted numerous lawsuits and investigations and paused oversight of major areas within the financial services sector.

Vought’s remarks follow previous statements from President Trump suggesting that the agency should be eliminated outright. Legal representatives for CFPB employees have accused the administration of violating federal law in its efforts to dismantle the bureau. In March, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson sharply questioned the administration’s credibility on the matter, according to Courthouse News.

Despite the administration’s stated intent to close the agency, the CFPB has shown some signs of activity in recent months, including pursuing a lawsuit against the credit bureau Experian and initiating regulatory revisions concerning the use of personal data in financial technology.