White House Scales Back Plan To Dismantle The CFPB But Still Wants To Slash Staff By Two-Thirds

The New Trump administration proposal that would shrink the CFPB from roughly 1,700 authorized positions pre‑second term to about 550, instead of the earlier plan to cut it down to roughly 200 staff.

What the new plan does

• Reduces authorized CFPB headcount from about 1,700 employees under Biden to roughly 550, eliminating about two‑thirds of positions.

• Replaces the earlier, more aggressive proposal to take the agency down to around 200 staff (about a 90% reduction).

• Targets are broad‑based: roughly five out of six supervision positions and about four‑fifths of enforcement staff would be cut if fully implemented.

Why it’s being “scaled back”

• The administration initially moved in 2025 to lay off about 1,400–1,500 employees, leaving roughly 200 staff, but those efforts ran into litigation and court limits on completely dismantling the agency.

• A federal appeals court allowed major workforce reductions but signaled the CFPB could not simply be eliminated outright, prompting a revised plan that keeps a larger (though still sharply reduced) bureau.

Rationale and constraints

• The White House and CFPB leadership are citing a major budget cut in the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which roughly halved the bureau’s operating funds, as making deep staff reductions “mathematically” necessary to comply with appropriations law.

• They also argue a smaller CFPB can focus on a narrower mission and leave more enforcement and supervision to the states and other regulators, continuing a strategy begun with the 2025 RIF efforts.

Opposition and legal posture

• The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents CFPB staff, is suing and openly opposing the cuts, arguing the bureau cannot meet its statutory obligations with only one‑third of its former workforce.

• Any large‑scale restructuring and RIF plan will likely require sign‑off or at least acquiescence from the federal courts in the ongoing union litigation.