The Schumer Shutdown Is On - Why Is the CFPB Still at Work?

In anything as big and complex as the federal government, there is bound to be a lot of stuff that just doesn't make sense. Right now, in the middle of the Schumer Shutdown, a lot of federal employees and people who are employee-adjacent - contractors and the like - are cooling their heels at home, waiting for Democrats to rejoin the real world. Not that most of them have ever been there to begin with, but let's just go with that.

But some federal workers are still in place, making our lives stressful and inconvenient. One of these is Senator Elizabeth Warren's (D-MA) brainchild, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which is still firing on all cylinders despite the Trump administration's efforts to shut it down. Why? Because it's independently funded by the Federal Reserve.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has told its staff to expect business as usual amid the government shutdown that began Wednesday, assuring them that operations, pay and benefits will continue uninterrupted, according to an internal email obtained by Law360.
The email, sent late Tuesday by CFPB Chief Operating Officer Adam Martinez, advised agency employees to "report to work as usual on Wednesday" should there be a shutdown, which began at midnight following dueling last-ditch funding votes failed in the U.S. Senate.
"CFPB will continue operations in the event of a shutdown, even though some other parts of the federal government would be affected," according to the email. "Bureau leadership will monitor the situation and alert you if any services may be disrupted or if you will need to alter processes."

They did so, and reportedly are still doing so. The CFPB's direct funding from the Federal Reserve keeps them going, it seems. But the CFPB hasn't been unscathed; before the shutdown was even a gleam in Chuck Schumer's eye, the CFPB was already being cut back.

Martinez also echoed some of the same partisan language that other federal agencies have used to communicate shutdown plans to their workers, blaming the federal funding deadlock on "congressional Democrats" holding out over "unrelated policy demands."
The CFPB has already seen significantly diminished operations under acting Director Russell Vought, who has closed its main offices, paused much of its regular activity and pushed to scale back its supervision and enforcement since taking over earlier this year.
But the current shutdown, the first shutdown since 2019, has idled hundreds of thousands more federal workers across the government. It stems from a bitter clash tied to healthcare, with Democrats insisting on restored and extended funding that Republicans have rejected as extraneous and extreme.

Honestly, it should be shut down completely.

D.C. Circuit Rides Again: This Time to Vacate Judge's Order Blocking Dismantling of CFPB

This is a function that the United States got along with very well before 2011. It's of questionable constitutional validity. It adds little or nothing to the proper, legal functioning of the federal government. Just the fact that it was the ideological offspring of Senator Warren would be reason enough to toss it on the trash heap of American history. But that's not what's happening, at least, not yet.

In his all-hands email late Tuesday, Martinez gave no indication that any such plans are under consideration.
"The bureau anticipates no disruption in pay, benefits, travel, or other services should other agencies close," the email read. "The Office of Finance and Procurement (OFP) and/or the Office of Human Capital (OHC) will communicate further if more information becomes available."

Doesn't that just figure? National parks and monuments may close, and the VA has largely shut down non-medical operations; thousands of federal employees have been furloughed, but Liz Warren's pet project just keeps on ticking. It's one function we could easily do without, especially given their questionable track record of interference in American business.

Then, there's this:

Representatives of the CFPB did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Wednesday.

You don't say.

Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.

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