Democrats Want Answers on Russell Vought’s Plan to Cut CFPB’s Workforce in Half

Senate Democrats are still looking for answers on what the Trump administration is doing to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee sent a letter Thursday to Russell Vought, who in addition to running the Office of Management and Budget is the acting director of the CFPB, demanding to know how the administration’s latest proposal to cut the agency’s staff by half would impact its statutorily mandated work.

“The most recent filing is yet another step in the Trump Administration’s chaotic, consistently illegal quest to destroy the only federal agency tasked specifically with protecting consumers in dealings with financial products and institutions,” the senators wrote in the letter, which was exclusively shared with NOTUS.

The administration’s plan to reduce CFPB staff by 53% was revealed in a court filing earlier this month. The plan would leave 556 employees at the CFPB, which enforces consumer-finance laws, supervises banks and monitors market risks.

The CFPB is currently operating with more than 1,100 employees, though much of its work has been stalled under Vought’s leadership. The agency had 1,700 employees before President Donald Trump retook office.

The senators requested responses from Vought within 30 days to a series of questions, including ones on the potential effects of workforce cuts to enforcement investigations, lawsuits and redress to consumers.

The fate of the CFPB has been tied up in the courts. Vought requested that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit modify a previous ruling pausing widespread layoffs so that the CFPB could immediately implement its new plan to reduce the agency’s workforce. Vought said the change would still fulfill the agency’s statutory obligations.

Senate Banking Democrats aren’t buying it.

Of particular concern to the senators is Vought’s plan to remove 87 workers from the Office of Enforcement, which investigates and litigates deceptive and fraudulent business practices and returns money to consumers.

“It is hard to understand how the CFPB could meet its statutory requirements, which include enforcing at least 21 consumer financial protection laws, while firing 80% of the workers responsible for doing so,” the senators wrote in their letter.

The letter was led by Sens. Angela Alsobrooks and Elizabeth Warren, a key architect of the agency.

The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents CFPB employees, sued Vought in February 2025 to halt the reduction in force at the agency and reverse the stop-work orders. The union said the stop-work orders amounted to closing the agency — an argument it won in a U.S. district court.

The appeals court vacated the lower court’s preliminary injunction blocking reductions in force before the union petitioned for a rehearing before the court’s full bench, which took place in February.

The appeals court has not yet handed down a decision.