The lights are on at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau across the street from the White House, and employees still get paid. But, in practice, the bureau has been mostly inoperable for nearly six months. CFPB employees say they essentially spend the workday sitting on their hands, forbidden from doing any work by directive from the White House.
The bureau is supposed to be helping oversee the nation’s banks and financial services companies and taking enforcement action in case of wrongdoing. Instead, the situation is Kafkaesque: the main function seems to be undoing the rulemaking and law enforcement work that was done under previous administrations, including in President Donald Trump’s first term.
