WASHINGTON, April 1 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s administration has developed a new plan to cut the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s staff by about two-thirds, abandoning an earlier effort to lay off nearly 90% of the workforce, court documents show.
In a filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday night, the Justice Department said the new plan shows the government will not completely shut down the CFPB as a lower court found. A CFPB representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
* Under the new plan, the CFPB’s staff would be reduced to 556, less than a third of what it was when Trump took office, and would eliminate 85% of positions in the regulatory division, which oversees the conduct of banks and nonbank financial companies that provide consumer services and 80% of enforcement efforts. * The Justice Department said lower courts should be allowed to consider lifting the stay that currently prevents the government from implementing the plan. * The administration has so far been fighting in court to be allowed to eliminate nearly all CFPB positions, which employee union lawyers and others argue would be illegal and prevent the agency from fulfilling its responsibilities under Congress, which created the agency in 2010. * Trump and other top officials have called for the complete elimination of the CFPB, accusing it of politicizing enforcement and placing undue burdens on companies, while supporters reject it as offering illegal giveaways to politically connected corporate actors that endanger the public. * Tuesday’s motion would stay pending appeals before the full Court of Appeals, where the justices appeared skeptical of the government’s argument that the court has no authority to stop it from firing nearly all CFPB employees.
(Reporting by Douglas Gillison in Washington; Editing by Chitsu Noyama)
