Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has shut down a wide variety of operations inside the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in his new role as acting director.
Bessent ordered the CFPB to stop all rulemaking, communications, litigation, and other activities, according to a Monday email to staff obtained by Bloomberg Law.
Bessent took over the CFPB as acting director after President Donald Trump fired Biden-era Director Rohit Chopra.
“As Acting Director, Secretary Bessent is committed to appropriately stewarding the agency pending new leadership,” the email said.
Essentially all activities at the bureau are on hold to “promote consistency with the goals of the Administration,” the email said. Only activities authorized by Bessent or required by law can move forward, it said.
A source inside the bureau who asked to remain anonymous said the order appeared to shut down the CFPB altogether, for the time being.
It comes as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has moved to shutter the US Agency for International Development despite the funding being mandated by Congress. Musk has also called to “Delete CFPB” on his X social media platform.
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