President Trump’s administration is cutting nearly 90 percent of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) employees in a push to significantly downsize the watchdog agency formed to shield U.S. consumers from financial fraud and abuse.
About 1,500 of the agency’s workers are scheduled to be cut, multiple outlets reported Thursday. That would leave some 200 people in place at the agency.
The employees began receiving layoff notices Thursday.
“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau identified your position being eliminated and your employment is subject to termination in accordance with reduction-in-force (RIF) procedures,” read an email to a CFPB worker, as reviewed by The Associated Press.
Acting CPPB Director Russell Vought said in a notice, which was seen by Politico, that the cuts are “necessary to restructure the Bureau’s operations to better reflect the agency’s priorities and mission.”
The Hill has reached out to the CFPB for comment.
The cuts come as a continuation of the Trump administration’s efforts to revise the shape and scope of the federal government.
The watchdog agency, created after the 2008 financial crisis, has long been in the crosshairs of GOP lawmakers, tech billionaire Elon Musk and Wall Street heavyweights, arguing the CFPB’s investigations are far too hostile to lenders and banks.
Last month, a judge ruled the CFPB had to be reinstated and the administration, temporarily, was not able to slash the workforce. An appeals court ruled Friday that the administration can lay off workers but cannot terminate the entire agency.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, previously criticized Musk and Vought over their push to dismantle the agency.
“So, why are these two guys trying to gut the CFPB?” Warren said in February. “It’s not rocket science: Trump campaigned on helping working people, but now that he’s in charge, this is the payoff to the rich guys who invested in his campaign and who want to cheat families — and not have anybody around to stop them.”
Fox Business first reported on the cuts.