Congressman Cohen Seeks Answers after DOGE Assault on Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

WASHINGTON - Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) today wrote to Russell Vought, the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), with concern at the damage done by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after mass dismissals of the bureau's personnel.

The letter seeks answers to a series of questions, including "When do you anticipate CFPB investigations resuming?"

The letter reads in part:

"I write with concern regarding the unlawful actions taken by the Trump Administration to undermine the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or 'Consumer Bureau') and what it means for consumers in my congressional district. This includes illegal orders to stop work, the plans for a mass dismissal of employees on top of the 10 percent of employees that were already dismissed, and the incursion of Elon Musk's 'Department of Government Efficiency' (DOGE) to access sensitive data on millions of consumers and competitors to businesses owned by Mr. Musk. The CFPB is the only Federal agency solely dedicated to protecting consumers from financial fraud, scams, and other unfair, deceptive and abusive products and practices in the financial marketplace, and halting CFPB supervision and enforcement is placing consumers at greater risk.

"Since its inception, the Consumer Bureau has returned more than $21 billion to consumers of which $3.3 billion came from relief from the Civil Penalty Fund. In my state of Tennessee, we have seen over $67 million returned to more than 145,000 consumers-from the Civil Penalty Fund alone. Furthermore, 133,589 consumers in my state have submitted complaints about various financial products and services since December 2011, including 8,203 servicemembers, with consumer complaints rising by 97 percent from 2023 to 2024."

See the entire letter here.

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