The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is facing internal chaos as employees struggle to complete their work due to a lack of clear direction from the acting director, Russell Vought. The agency’s mission to protect consumers from financial abuses has been hindered by the inability of employees to perform statutorily required tasks.
In an email, CFPB chief legal officer Mark Paoletta stated that employees should be performing work that is required by law without needing prior approval. However, this message contradicted a previous instruction from Vought to stop working altogether and sparked confusion among staff.
The situation has been further complicated by the firing of several key personnel and the granting of administrative access to CFPB systems by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. This has resulted in lost data, cancelled contracts, and IT resources.
Employees have reported difficulties in completing assignments due to the loss of personnel from firings, as well as a lack of research tools and data. One employee requested to fix the CFPB homepage, which had been showing an error message since February 7.
The agency’s Chief Information Officer, Christopher Chilbert, acknowledged that restoring the homepage was not currently authorized, while another employee claimed that failing to pay a Google Analytics bill would result in losing historical data.
The internal turmoil at the CFPB has raised concerns about the agency’s ability to effectively regulate consumer financial protection. As the situation continues to unfold, it remains unclear what steps will be taken to address these challenges and restore the agency’s operations to normal.
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/05/politics/cfpb-workers-confusion-emails-doge/index.html