Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, HOUSE NEWS—Congresswoman Williams demands reversal of ‘unlawful’ stop-work orders, layoffs at CFPB, (Apr 25, 2025)
Organizations Mentioned:Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
By A. Bryan Gerepka
Williams stated that halting CFPB supervision and enforcement is placing consumers at greater risk of financial exploitation.
United States Congresswoman Nikema Williams (D-Ga.) has demanded that the Trump administration repeal stop-work orders, cancel plans to dismiss some 1,500 employees, and other allegedly illegal actions being taken to undermine the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Moreover, the Congresswoman expressed her concerns about Elon Musk’s role in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its access to sensitive data on millions of consumers and businesses, as Musk’s businesses may gain a competitive advantage from this information.
In an April 23, 2025, letter, Williams pressed Acting CFPB Director Russell Vought to explain how the changes at the CFPB will affect consumers—particularly those in Georgia’s 5th Congressional District, which she represents. “I am very glad that a federal district judge has paused the layoff plans,” she wrote. “I strongly encourage you to conform to the law and rescind your reduction in force (RIF) plan before the court finds against you,” noting that the CFPB will have a staff of roughly 200 remaining after the RIF. The congresswoman also encouraged Mr. Vought to comply with Financial Services Committee Ranking Members Maxine Waters’ (D-Calif.) recent letter requesting a hearing on the status of the CFPB to explain the impact of these changes on her constituents.
“Your planned gutting of this critical agency makes it clear that your desire is to allow big companies to take advantage of my constituents with impunity. That is unacceptable,” Congresswoman Williams wrote. “I am requesting information from you to better understand how consumers in my state will be impacted by the Trump Administration’s attempts to dismantle the Consumer Bureau.”
In the letter, the Congresswoman asked Mr. Vought to respond no later than May 1, 2025, to the following questions:
Please explain why you went ahead with the RIF plan in violation of an active court order.
How many open complaints have consumers in Georgia filed that are awaiting review by CFPB staff?
How many pending enforcement actions have been dropped by the CFPB under your leadership where consumers from Georgia were allegedly harmed?
Please list each case.
Please share the number of allegedly harmed consumers from Georgia.
What alternative options for remedy do impacted consumers have where the pending enforcement case was dropped with prejudice?
Has the CFPB notified these impacted consumers in my [district in] Georgia?
Have disbursements from the Civil Penalty Fund or other enforcement cases been paused? If so, how many consumers in Georgia are affected by this pause?
Are there any investigations stemming from complaints from consumers in Georgia that have been paused?
Are there any ongoing investigations on financial institutions based in Georgia that have been paused?
Have disruptions to the CFPB affected any ongoing lawsuits protecting servicemembers and their families?
When do you anticipate CFPB investigations resuming?
When do you anticipate the CFPB headquarters reopening?
When will members of Congress be allowed into the CFPB headquarters?
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, the Congresswoman wrote, and halting CFPB supervision and enforcement is placing consumers at greater risk of financial exploitation.
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, she added. “In my state of Georgia, we have seen nearly $150M returned to more than 300,000 consumers from the Civil Penalty Fund alone.”
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