Judge Rules CFPB Must Keep Receiving Federal Funding

A federal judge ruled that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau cannot have its funding allowed to lapse, rejecting the Trump administration’s effort to end the agency’s cash stream. Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court in Washington said the bureau may continue to receive transfers from the Federal Reserve even though the Fed has operated at a loss since 2022.

She wrote that the Fed’s willingness to pay has not changed and that the only new factor is the administration’s determination to eliminate an agency created by Congress. The bureau’s future has been in doubt since Russell T. Vought, the White House budget director and the CFPB’s acting director, moved to dismantle the agency after taking the post in February.

The agency said last month that its supervision division had been described internally as a “weaponized arm” under the prior Biden-era director. Mr. Vought ordered office closures and declined to request funding from the Fed, leaving the CFPB unable to pay roughly 1,400 workers. On a podcast in October he said, “We want to put it out — and we will be successful probably within the next two, three months.” The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel issued a memo last month declaring the bureau’s funding stream illegal, arguing that the Fed’s losses meant there was no money to transfer.

The CFPB warned it could run out of money in early 2026.

Key Topics

Culture, Business, Cfpb, Federal Reserve, Trump Administration, Amy Berman Jackson, Funding