On February 7, 2025, President Donald Trump appointed Russell Vought to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Shortly after, Vought announced that he had notified the Federal Reserve that the CFPB would not take its next draw of unappropriated funding. "This spigot, long contributing to CFPB's unaccountability, is now being turned off."
The CFPB has long overstepped its authority. Its latest effort to regulate medical debt and credit reporting is a prime example.
In response to Trump's executive order freezing all regulations, the CFPB immediately started searching for ways to circumvent the order and push forward its policy agenda. When its rule banning medical debt from credit reports was stopped in its tracks, the agency appealed to state legislatures to pass laws doing just that.
