This week, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, joined Democratic Members of Congress, consumer advocates, and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) staff outside the agency’s headquarters to demand answers following Elon Musk’s recent takeover of the agency.

Over the past five days Trump, Acting Director Vought, and co-President Elon Musk have:

• Ordered CFPB staff to stop working on most matters.
  
• Sent Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) agents into the CFPB. DOGE agents were granted full access to CFPB’s servers, systems, code, and confidential data, including supervisory information, enforcement actions, and personally identifiable information on consumers.
  
• Closed the CFPB headquarters, ordered staff to stay home, and ordered staff to stop working on ANY and ALL matters.
  
• Requested $0 in funding from the Federal Reserve.
  

As a result, the CFPB remains closed for business.

During the event Congresswoman Waters sounded the alarm on the devastating consequences of these efforts to kill the CFPB, which does critical work to protect working-class families, including:

• Returning $21 billion to harmed consumers.
  
• Cracking down on junk fees, like excessive overdraft fees.
  
• Holding megabanks accountable for violating the law.
  
• Protecting servicemembers from illegal fees, high-interest loans, and false advertising.
  
• Stopping discrimination in housing and the U.S. economy.
  
• Protecting students from scams.
  

Despite efforts by Trump and Musk, Congresswoman Waters and Congressional Democrats vowed to fight these coordinated and illegal attacks against the CFPB and protect the agency’s critical mission to protect American consumers.

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