Oregon Sues to Stop Trump From Defunding Consumer Watchdog That Returned Billions to Americans
In a lawsuit to protect critical consumer protection efforts against the Trump Administration’s latest salvo- to completely defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)- Oregon led a coalition of attorneys general to prevent the agency from running out of money in January 2026.
Source: CFPB Enforcement by the Numbers (as of Jan 30 2025) / Oregon DOJ media release (Dec 22 2025)
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Oregon Lawsuit Seeks To Halt Trump’s Defunding of Consumer Protection Initiative
In a lawsuit filed yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield challenged the CFPB’s current acting director, Russel Vought’s refusal to request any funding from the Federal Reserve. The CFPB returned over $21 billion to more than 205 million Americans during its 14-year existence.
AG Rayfield said about the agency:
“When powerful companies cut corners, someone has to stand up for everyday people and demand accountability.”
For example, Equifax was ordered to pay $15 million to the CFPB’s victims’ relief fund this year and bring its dispute resolution processes into compliance with federal law after consumers were affected by the company distributing incorrect credit scores.
The coalition argues that defunding the agency will have devastating impacts on consumers and severely disrupt states’ consumer protection abilities, which rely on consumer complaints and data from the agency.
They said that the agency has a legal requirement to collect and process consumer complaints and share that complaint data with states.
Source: CFPB Consumer Response Annual Report 2024 (Figure 3, published May 2025)
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According to the lawsuit, Vought’s actions violate the law and the Constitution. The lawsuit seeks a court order preventing the administration from completely defunding the CFPB, an independent agency funded by the Federal Reserve that regulates financial institutions and products to protect consumers. CFPB is the only federal agency supervising the nation’s largest banks for their compliance with consumer financial protection laws.
The coalition wants a court order preventing the administration from carrying out its decision not to request funds for the CFPB and ordering the agency to request funding from the Federal Reserve to fulfill its duties as required by law.