Billionaire Elon Musk called for eliminating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, highlighting the renewed threat under President-elect Donald Trump to a regulatory agency that has long been a target of Republicans and business advocacy groups.
"Delete CFPB. There are too many duplicative regulatory agencies,"
Musk's criticism is notable because he, alongside technology entrepreneur and fellow businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, has been tapped by Trump to run a new effort, dubbed the Department of Government Efficiency, which aims to slash the federal bureaucracy and reduce government spending.
And Musk's move signals a new stage in a long-running Washington fight over the agency's powers and very existence.
The CFPB — the brainchild of Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren — was created as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act in the wake of the financial crisis and given the job of overseeing parts of the financial industry that interact with consumers. The agency, though, has endured a rocky political tenure, facing multiple legal challenges since its onset.
During his first term, Trump took steps to largely neutralize the agency, easing the CFPB's enforcement of banks. But under President Joe Biden and Director Rohit Chopra, the agency has taken an aggressive regulatory approach to consumer finance, cracking down on home foreclosures and bank overdraft fees. Earlier this year, the agency also scored a win in the courts when the Supreme Court upheld its funding system.
Project 2025, a controversial blueprint for a second Trump term crafted by the conservative Heritage Foundation, calls for abolishing the agency, calling it "highly politicized, damaging, and utterly unaccountable," and "returning the consumer protection function of the CFPB to banking regulators and the Federal Trade Commission."
Chopra's own future as head of the CFPB
Musk has already demonstrated his influence over the incoming administration, including sitting in on transition meetings and calls with foreign leaders. But it is unclear how much power his Department of Government Efficiency will wield in its efforts to scale back the federal government. Trump has said it will "provide advice and guidance from outside of Government, and will partner with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to drive large scale structural reform."
'Midnight-hour' regs
Ramaswamy is warning the Biden administration over last-minute efforts to finalize regulations or dole out funding before Trump returns to power, saying those actions will be scrutinized by incoming officials and potentially reversed.
"We are acutely aware of the reality that the outgoing Biden administration is pushing out $$ and proposing new regulations at a fast pace to get ahead of Jan 20," Ramaswamy said in a
Administrations, including Trump's first, routinely seek to cement their imprint on policies in the final days of a term. One high-profile example in recent days is a proposed Biden administration rule that would require the US government to cover obesity drugs for millions of Americans.
Biden is also seeking to strengthen Ukraine in its fight to repel Russia's invasion during his final days in office. He's allowing Kyiv to hit military targets deeper inside Russia, approved sending anti-personnel land mines and forgave nearly $5 billion in debt.
On Capitol Hill, Senate Democrats are also sprinting to confirm the president's judicial nominees before the chamber flips to Republican control in January.
