ARIZONA – Attorney General Kris Mayes announced December 22 that she joined a coalition of attorneys general in suing the Trump administration.
The lawsuit aims to block the complete defunding of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which has returned over $21 billion to more than 205 million Americans in its 14-year history.
Mayes says CFPB acting director Russell Vought’s refusal to seek Federal Reserve funding could leave the agency insolvent by January 2026.
In November, Vought said the agency can only be funded from the Federal Reserve’s “profits,” which he described as currently nonexistent.
Mayes and the coalition warn this would harm consumers and cripple states’ consumer protection programs that depend on CFPB data and complaints.
Mayes and the coalition say Vought’s actions violate the law and Constitution by preventing the CFPB from collecting and sharing consumer complaints with states.
The lawsuit seeks to block the administration from fully defunding the CFPB.
“Deliberately starving this agency of funding leaves consumers at risk of fraud, predatory lending, and abusive financial practices,” Mayes said.
CFPB was established after the Great Recession
Established after the Great Recession, the CFPB is an independent agency funded by the Federal Reserve that regulates financial institutions and products to protect consumers.
The CFPB writes and enforces financial rules, collects key economic data, and handles millions of consumer complaints annually.
In addition, the CFPB provides states with complaint data used to investigate wrongdoing, recover funds, and support litigation.
For example, under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, the CFPB provides data states use to prevent discriminatory lending.
Mayes and the coalition warn that defunding the CFPB would eliminate a key resource states rely on to resolve consumer complaints.
