US (AMERICANS FOR FINANCIAL REFORM) : VOUGHT is leaving. His replacement could finish the job.

 

Today marks 15 years since the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau opened its doors and gave people a powerful watchdog against Wall Street abuse. It’s an incredible milestone that we should all celebrate, especially since Americans for Financial Reform and YOU have played such a big role in the success. The CFPB has secured more than $21 billion in relief for people harmed by banks, lenders, credit bureaus, debt collectors, and other financial corporations. With the Trump administration, that legacy is under threat. Every. Single. Day. Now, Trump has nominated Brian Johnson to replace Russell Vought to lead the CFPB. The administration wants senators to believe that with Vought out, Johnson will return the agency to business as usual. We know the truth. Johnson has already made it clear his goal will be to continue the mission of Project 2025. Dismantle consumer protections, rollback settlements against corporations, and weaponize what remains of the CFPB to carry out politically motivated investigations of Community Based Lenders. Johnson will be Vought 2.0 We need to take action immediately to stop senators from confirming him. Sign and send a direct message demanding the Senate protect the CFPB and reject Brian Johnson now. SIGN & SEND Johnson served in senior leadership at the CFPB during Trump’s first term, eventually becoming deputy director and playing a central role in deciding what the agency would pursue. Under the leadership team he helped run, the CFPB moved to gut the ability-to-repay requirement in its payday lending rule, abandoned cases against predatory lenders, and embraced a weaker, more corporate-friendly approach to enforcement. It seems an unlikely coincidence that during Johnson’s most recent job as an executive at Capital One, the Trump-Vought CFPB dropped a major case accusing the bank of cheating customers out of more than $2 billion in interest. Now Trump wants to give him control of the agency that was supposed to hold banks like Capital One accountable. Russell Vought spent the last year carrying out the Project 2025 plan to dismantle the CFPB. He tried to fire most of its staff, dropped dozens of enforcement actions, rolled back protections, gutted its budget, and allowed corporations accused of cheating people to escape accountability. Courts and pressure from members of Congress and the public (that’s you) stopped him from completely destroying the agency. Still the damage has already cost families billions. Johnson would inherit that weakened CFPB and the Project 2025 roadmap for finishing the job. A confirmed director could entrench Vought’s corporate pardons, preserve his attacks on the agency’s workforce, and spend the next 5 years stripping away the CFPB’s ability to fight junk fees, predatory loans, financial scams, medical debt abuse, and discrimination. Tell senators to reject Brian Johnson and demand a CFPB director who will protect consumers and enforce the law – not one who will never hold Wall Street accountable. The CFPB’s 15th anniversary should mark a renewed commitment to protecting people from financial abuse. Instead Donald Trump has nominated Vought 2.0 Thank you for everything you’re doing to help us stop them. Working together, we can put the CFPB back to work for the public. - Tom. Tom Feltner (he/him) Associate Director of Consumer Policy Americans for Financial Reform. Support the campaign

Americans for Financial Reform