Congressional Democrats File Amicus Brief Over CFPB Firings

A group of Congressional Democrats filed an amicus brief calling for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to rehear a case on the Trump Administration’s mass firings at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

In the brief, the lawmakers argued that President Donald Trump’s attempt to shutter the CFPB was unconstitutional.

“A President, of course, may disagree with Congress’s choice. When that happens, the remedy is to participate in the political process and make a proposal to Congress, not to usurp legislative power and unilaterally dismantle an agency Congress created,” they stated in the brief.

The brief was signed by every Democrat on the Senate and House Finance Committees, including led by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), ranking member on the Senate committee, and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), ranking member on the House committee. Democratic Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) also signed it.

The lawmakers also outlined the CFPB’s importance in protecting American consumers.

“Shuttering the CFPB would not just run afoul of the Constitution, it would also destroy the framework Congress created to safeguard the finances of American consumers. That framework has been a resounding success, with the Bureau delivering billions back to consumers who have been defrauded. In its absence, entire swaths of the market will be unprotected from the type of predatory conduct that caused the 2008 crisis and led to the creation of the CFPB,” they wrote.