Warren Statement on New Attempt by Russ Vought to Illegally Shut Down the CFPB

Warren Statement on New Attempt by Russ Vought to Illegally Shut Down the CFPB

Washington, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren, Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, released the following statement on another attempt by Russ Vought to illegally shut down the CFPB.

"This absurd maneuver by Russ Vought is plainly illegal, and federal judges have already rejected his fringe theory. If the courts continue to uphold the law, Vought will fail again.

"Donald Trump will do anything to try to kill an agency that has returned more than $21 billion to scammed Americans, but he will not do anything to lower costs for American families."

Background:

• Before this filing, the United States Department of Justice and the CFPB itself consistently rejected the argument Vought is pushing. It was clear that when the statute (12 U.S.C. 5497(a)(1)) says the CFPB can draw funds from the Fed's "combined earnings," it plainly means what it says - that the CFPB can draw on the Fed's "combined earnings" and not just its "net profits." In the entire history of its existence, across administrations of both parties, the CFPB never took a different position.

• No court has ever accepted Vought's argument either. In the few cases where anyone has even attempted to make it, federal courts have rejected the theory out of hand. That includes courts in the Eastern District of Texas and the Southern District of Texas.

• Even Ken Paxton - who has repeatedly challenged the constitutionality of the CFPB over the years - filed a brief specifically rejecting this argument in litigation last year. As was widely reported, Paxton's office "trashed the legal strategy," found the argument "strange" and "unpersuasive," and made clear that "it doesn't pass the smell test."

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