CFPB’s Urgent Push to Resume Mandated Work
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is facing significant challenges in getting its employees back to work on legally mandated tasks, according to internal emails submitted in a high-stakes litigation. The emails, which surfaced in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, shed light on the agency’s efforts to prevent closure by the Trump administration.
Emails Reveal Desperate Measures
Late Tuesday, the emails were filed in court, revealing that the CFPB had initiated a concerted effort to bring back workers from various units. These units include consumer response, regulations, and other essential activities. This push came just before a critical hearing on March 3 before Judge Amy Berman Jackson.
A series of emails from CFPB Chief Legal Officer Mark Paoletta and Chief Operating Officer Adam Martinez, starting last week, sought to bring workers back from administrative leave. Their goal was to ensure that employees could carry out tasks required by the Dodd-Frank Act.
“It has come to my attention, however, that some employees have not been performing statutorily required work,” Martinez stated in a March 2 email on behalf of Paoletta. He emphasized that employees should perform work required by law without needing prior approval.
Acting Director’s Stop-Work Order
On February 10, Acting CFPB Director Russell Vought issued a broad stop-work order to all CFPB employees. This directive expanded an earlier order from Vought, which had suspended all CFPB work except for legally mandated operations and activities expressly approved by the acting director or Paoletta.
Confusion and Clarifications
In recent days, Paoletta and Martinez were inundated with emails from personnel across various CFPB units. Employees were seeking clarification on what constitutes legally mandated work, according to court records.
Paoletta authorized the return of most employees in the CFPB’s consumer response unit and allowed the research, markets, and regulations division to continue working on mandated reports, such as a review of credit card markets. A limited number of staff from the CFPB’s civil rights office were also authorized to work on their mandated reports.
The biggest confusion arose within the CFPB’s supervision division. Cassandra Huggins, the principal deputy assistant director for supervision policy and operations, sent an email to her staff on March 3, instructing them not to work without authorization. This followed an exchange with Martinez.
Paoletta followed up with an email to Huggins on Tuesday, expressing “significant concerns” about her staff communication. He reiterated Vought’s mandate to carry out work required by law but did not specify whether supervision mandated by Dodd-Frank should resume. Instead, he instructed Huggins to compile a report detailing all “pending examination actions, including their current status.”
Huggins clarified that she did not leak her email, which was sent to the press during the March 3 hearing before Jackson. She emphasized that her intention was to ensure staff did not act against Vought’s February 8 directive to cease all supervisory and examination activity.
Efforts to Restart Contracts
The internal emails also revealed details of the CFPB’s attempts to restart a small subset of the more than $100 million in contracts canceled under Vought. “We’re taking a very narrow approach: if without the contract the Bureau can’t meet a statutory requirement then it will be considered for reactivation,” CFPB Chief Financial Officer Jafnar Gueye stated in a March 3 email.
Early in Vought’s tenure, the CFPB replaced its homepage with a 404 error page, though the rest of the site remained accessible. Attempts to restore the homepage were denied, according to a February 18 email from Chief Information Officer Christopher Chilbert. He explained that the decision to delete the homepage was made by Acting Director Vought and was not an error by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team.
Conclusion and Related Topics
The internal emails from the CFPB highlight the agency’s ongoing struggle to resume mandated work amid a legal battle to prevent closure. This situation underscores the broader challenges faced by government agencies during political transitions and budget constraints. For more insights into similar legal battles, you can read about the recent court ruling that halted CFPB layoffs in the article [/federal-judge-blocks-cfpb-layoffs-budget-cuts].
As the situation evolves, it’s crucial to stay updated on developments related to the CFPB and other government agencies. We encourage readers to join the discussion and share their thoughts on how these challenges might impact consumer protection and financial regulation.
Source: news.bloomberglaw.com
