Earlier this week, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance Foundation (TPAF) launched CFPB Mission Creep. This new platform will educate the public on the negative consumer impacts resulting from overreaching actions by unaccountable regulators at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Since its creation in 2010, the CFPB has taken advantage of its “power of the purse” immunity and the lack of proper congressional oversight to implement a series of statutorily dubious regulatory actions that raise serious consumer privacy concerns and make a tough economy even harder to navigate for millions of Americans. TPAF’s CFPB Mission Creep initiative adds to our ongoing work to expose the administrative state and protect taxpayers.

CFPB Mission Creep – Could be the Biggest Creep of All

The United States government is built upon a three-part separation of powers. In broad strokes, Congress (the policymaking leader) enacts law, the president (via the Executive Branch) enforces law, and the courts resolve disputes. In the last century or more, this structure has become badly confused as Congress has unconstitutionally vested legislative and judicial powers in the administrative state. This has been best exemplified in the numerous so-called “independent” regulatory agencies that oversee virtually every facet of American economic life. Particularly during the Biden era, federal agencies have become increasingly unaccountable, overreaching, and lawless. These actions waste taxpayer money and hurt consumers. But no entity typifies America’s transition from constitutional governance to rule-by-bureaucrat more than the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). TPAF is launching CFPB Mission Creep to shine a light on the financial watchdog’s abuses. Authorized in 2010 by the
Dodd-Frank Act, the CFPB possesses vast and vague powers over financial institutions. These are powers insulated from democratic accountability that the agency interprets liberally to the detriment of consumers. Dodd-Frank forbade the president to fire the CFPB director without cause and empowered the agency to fund itself. The Supreme Court excised the first layer of insulation in 2020, ruling that the president must retain authority over agency hiring and firing. The Supreme Court is now reviewing whether the CFPB’s funding mechanism, which the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held to be unconstitutional, accords with the Appropriations Clause.

The Constitution’s exclusive grant to Congress of the “power of the purse” ensures democratically elected legislators can rein in rogue bureaucrats. However, the CFPB is immune from this check; as its self-set budget is drawn directly from the Federal Reserve – another unaccountable agency. In 2022, the Fed couldn’t cover the nearly $700 million in checks the CFPB cuts every year, so they “printed” more money and gave it to the CFPB without any congressional involvement. This is unacceptable. This lack of accountability has facilitated a series of statutorily dubious regulatory actions through which CFPB technocrats seek to unilaterally micromanage American businesses. The New York Times aptly summed up this dynamic, writing that “[CFPB Director Rohit] Chopra insists that he always follows the rules,” but “His view is that he’s simply more expansive than others in determining what those rules are.” To the CFPB’s supporters, legislation-by-administrative-fiat is a feature, not a bug,
of the agency’s structure. Their aim is to circumvent the standard processes of democratic lawmaking and infuse “enlightened” bureaucrats with maximal latitude to regulate businesses and the American economy. Defenders of the CFPB’s expansive power believe that should the agency sometimes color outside the lines of its statutory authorities, all the better — it will nonetheless enact progressive financial regulation, including many policies that Congress would likely never approve.

The CFPB has exploited its position energetically to impose anti-business and anti-consumer regulations. For example, it has worked to compel Americans needlessly to disclose sensitive financial and personal information and to limit financial institutions’ discretion to issue mortgages to borrowers with sub-par credit scores. The CFPB has even cracked down on benign practices such as online pop-up windows and drop-down menus. A 2023 agency policy statement ruled that regulators may establish “abusive conduct” by a company without a “showing of substantial injury.” Essentially, this language frees the CFPB to pursue cases arbitrarily, untethering enforcement actions from provable consumer harm. According to the agency, business practices that could draw regulatory scrutiny as “abusive” include incredibly broad – and typically standard – practices such as multi-step online click-throughs, delayed customer support, fine print and complex language, and form contracts.

Lawmakers have begun to understand the harms that a structurally unaccountable bureaucracy brings to the American constitutional system and to average Americans — particular when that bureaucracy assumes legislative powers. As the Supreme Court deliberates, politicians, the media, and advocacy and civil-society groups must continue to scrutinize the agency’s lawlessness. In the end, pushback to the CFPB and similarly unaccountable agencies must flow from the American people and elected officials.

BLOGS:

Tuesday: Content Moderation at the Supreme Court: Free Speech On – and For – Social Media Platforms ([link removed])

Wednesday: The PROVE IT Act is a Stepping Stone to a Carbon Tax, Big Government Regulation, and Higher Prices for Consumers ([link removed])

Thursday : Taxpayers Protection Alliance Foundation Announces Launch of CFPB Mission Creep Project ([link removed])

Friday: TPA Submits Testimony in Vermont, South Carolina, and Florida ([link removed])

MEDIA:

January 13, 2024: Director of Policy Dan Savickas was interviewed by Newsmax TV about taxpayer-funded animal testing.

January 14, 2024: The Knoxville News-Sentinel (Knoxville, Tenn.) ran TPA’s op-ed, “DOJ must heed senator's concerns about TVA and broadband.”

January 15, 2024: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about Maryland’s Digital Advertising Tax.

January 16, 2024: Inside Sources quoted TPA in their article, “Why Aren’t POTUS Candidates Talking About America’s Debt Crisis?”

January 16, 2024: Inside Sources ran TPA’s op-ed, “BEAD Distribution Should Concern Taxpayers.”

January 16, 2024: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) quoted TPA in their story, “Amid $150 million for transportation funding, experts voice concerns.”

January 17, 2024: The Boston Herald (Boston, Mass.) quoted TPA in their story, “2024 election; Candidates need to talk about the debt crisis.”

January 17, 2024: The Herald Dispatch (Huntington, W. Va.) quoted TPA in their article, “Why don't candidates talk about the debt crisis?”

January 17, 2024: Prescott eNews quoted TPA in their story, “Why Aren’t POTUS Candidates Talking About America’s Debt Crisis?”

January 18, 2024: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about Gov. Moore’s 2025 budget proposal.

January 18, 2024: I appeared on WBOB 600 AM (Jacksonville, Fla.) to talk about age verification legislation.

January 18, 2024: Florida Daily ran TPA’s op-ed, “FDA Needs to Embrace Choice, Flexibility in 2024.”

January 18, 2024: American Viewpoints with Mike Ferguson interviewed Patrick Hedger about the new IRS Direct File pilot program.

January 18, 2024: The Daily Pouch published TPA's op-ed, "Embracing Harm Reduction – A Classical Liberal Approach to Public Health in Argentina."

Have a great weekend!

Best,
David Williams
President
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
1101 14th Street, NW
Suite 1120
Washington, D.C. xxxxxx
www.protectingtaxpayers.org ([link removed])


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