Press Releases

Yesterday, the House Financial Services Committee, led by Chairman French Hill (AR-02), hosted Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Acting Director Russell Vought for a hearing on the agency’s Semi-Annual Report, the reforms underway at the Bureau, and legislative efforts to ensure the CFPB remains transparent, accountable, and focused on protecting consumers.

On Restoring Accountability and Potential Reforms:

Chairman Hill said, “The CFPB’s core mission is to protect consumers, but there are serious questions about whether some actions under the previous Administration advanced that goal or instead imposed costs [that] ultimately harmed consumers. The Council of Economic Advisers estimated that since 2011, the CFPB policies have cost consumers between $237 and $369 billion through higher borrowing costs, reduced credit availability, and other compliance-related expenses that have been passed on in the financial system.”

Task Force on Monetary Policy, Illicit Finance, and Economic Prosperity Chairman Frank Lucas (OK-03) asked Acting Director Vought what structural reforms he would implement in the Bureau, to which he answered, “I think the biggest thing that you can do is put the agency under the appropriations process, the degree to which it doesn't have to come to Congress and have its budget approved and dispensed to is a massive, massive problem. And I think it's the number one thing that I would I would point the committee to.”

Subcommittee on Financial Institutions Chairman Andy Barr (KY-06) asked Acting Director Vought the best way to strengthen accountability and transparency in the agency, to which he answered, “It's [moving the CFPB budget under the appropriations process] the most important reform that you can do, full stop. The extent to which an agency has to come to congress and justify the activities that it does in conjunction with the resources that it is requesting from the appropriations process, I do not understand why Congress would ever provide funding to an agency outside of that process.”

On Strengthening Consumer Protection and Regulatory Oversight:

Rep. Barry Loudermilk (GA-11) said, “The CFPB was designed, no matter how flawed that design was, to protect consumers. I think it's been clear to many of us who have sat, at least in the dais and on this side of the room, for many years, that was not what the CFPB was doing, but it was a name and shame organization against businesses and industries that it determined, or its director determined, they did not like. That is not the design. That is not the constitutional design nor the design of what any government agency should be. And so, our constitutional system entrusts Congress with writing the laws and the executive branch with faithfully executing them. That distinction is fundamental to ensuring that significant policy decisions are made by the people's elected representatives, rather than by administrative agencies, which is what we've seen within the CFPB for many years, writing their own rules and proceeding with their own agenda.”

Rep. John Rose (TN-06) said, “Institutions with strong compliance management systems, histories of cooperation, and low-risk business models should not necessarily be subject to the same supervisory intensity as firms with repeated compliance failures or evidence of consumer harm. A risk-based supervisory framework not only allows the CFPB to focus on its greatest threats to consumers, it also reduces unnecessary regulatory burdens on responsible institutions that are making good faith efforts to comply with the law.”

Acting Director Vought said, “In the past, the supervision program pushed well past the limits of statutory authority under the guise of consumer protection. The Bureau also now avoids duplication of supervision by other regulators. Supervision is conducted with transparency and respect, as examiners announce through the Humility Pledge that they must read at the beginning of all examinations. Enforcement is also being guided by a new set of principles so that the CFPB focuses on addressing actual harm to consumers, ensuring due process, seeking collaboration when appropriate, and promoting efficiency. Under President Trump, there has been a paradigm shift in the way the CFPB regulates, supervises, and enforces the laws as required under the Dodd-Frank Act.”

###