Democratic Senate leaders demanded the Trump administration order staffers from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to vacate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), accusing their efforts to dismantle the bureau as a means of undermining consumer protections, particularly with respect to the evolving digital payments sector.
Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Ranking Member Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) submitted a letter to CFPB acting director Russ Vought and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, asserting that “[e]fforts to shut down the CFPB are dangerous and are particularly costly for people whose claims of illegal foreclosures, car repossessions, or debanking are currently under investigation by the agency.”
“Americans deserve a CFPB that will continue to stand up against corporate greed — not an agency shut down by officials looking out for themselves,” the senators wrote. “With that in mind, we once again ask that you remove Mr. Musk’s operatives from the CFPB, restore all internal and external systems and operations, and allow the CFPB to continue to do its job of protecting American consumers.”
The senators raised concerns over potential violations of federal rules against conflicts of interest in government, given that DOGE head Elon Musk has announced plans to launch a payment platform through X (formerly Twitter), which is being backed by a partnership with Visa. Through its Larger Participant Rule, the CFPB has the regulatory authority to supervise nonbank tech companies that offer digital payment products and services.
“[T]hrough his efforts at DOGE to target the CFPB, Mr. Musk is actively undermining an agency directly responsible for supervising — and if necessary, disciplining — his company’s new P2P system,” the senators wrote. “Mr. Musk is not only neutralizing the pro-consumer agency that will supervise X’s digital wallet — he is also potentially gaining access to confidential corporate data that could provide X with an unfair advantage over its competitors.”
The lawmakers raised similar concerns about possible conflicts of interest arising from Musk’s ownership of Tesla.
“The CFPB plays a critical role in supervising the auto lending industry and protecting consumers from corporate malfeasance and scams,” they wrote. “Therefore, actions by Mr. Musk and DOGE at the CFPB also have the potential to directly benefit Tesla — and by extension, Mr. Musk.”
In addition to demanding the removal of Musk’s operatives from CFPB and more transparency on Musk’s involvement with the bureau, Schiff and Warren also sought information on whether appropriate safeguards are in place to ensure that his personal financial interests do not interfere with CFPB operations.