Trump administration proposes cutting CFPB staff by two-thirds

The proposal is here. It can’t go into effect until the preliminary injunction in the NTEU case is lifted. The administration claims the plan would “allow CFPB to continue meeting its statutory obligations while expanding on the reforms that have dramatically increased its efficiency and stewardship of taxpayer funds, in line with Presidential and Congressional intent.”  I’m having a hard time reconciling the idea that this is in line with congressional intent with the statutes allowing the CFPB to have many more employees to achieve Congress’s goals, or for that matter, 12 U.S.C. § 5511, which identifies the CFPB’s many objectives. The plan would cut the number of employees in supervision from 573 to 77. Enforcement would go from 254 to 50. At a time when consumer complaints to the CFPB are soaring, dramatically cutting back on the number of folks making sure consumer financial companies are complying with the law is a truly terrible idea.