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The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report in response to a request by members of Congress that it assess the effect of recent stop-work orders, workforce reductions, contract terminations, and other related actions on the CFPB's ability to fulfill its statutorily mandated functions. The report addresses the status of CFPB's significant reorganization and downsizing efforts from February through August 2025. The GAO will examine the effects of these actions as the subject of a future report. The report was requested by Senators Andy Kim, D-N.J., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Representatives Bill Foster, D-Ill., Al Green, D-Tex., and Maxine Waters, D-Cal.
The report itself mainly details timelines of various actions at the CFPB related to the reorganization and downsizing of the agency. As noted by the GAO, the actual analysis of the effect of the actions will be set forth in a future report. The report is based on publicly available information, including court filings involving the CFPB, Federal Register notices, press releases, executive orders, memoranda from the Office of Personnel Management and Office of Management and Budget, and nonpublic CFPB documents during the February through August 2025 period.
Among the developments described in the report are:
- The dismissal of 16 enforcement actions with prejudice and one without prejudice out of the 34 actions that were ongoing as of January 30, 2025.
- A planned reduction in force of approximately 88% of the CFPB's workforce, including 90% of the supervision division and 80% of the enforcement division.
- The rescission or withdrawal of 70 agency guidance documents and proposed rules.
- The temporary closure of the CFPB headquarters and the termination of all regional office leases.
Comments made by the GAO in the introduction to the report on its interactions with the CFPB are interesting. The GAO advises that to further gather information "[w]e . . . requested a meeting with CFPB officials and information on agency contracts, workforce changes, and supervisory and other activities. CFPB declined to meet with us and did not provide requested information, citing ongoing litigation."
The GAO notes that it provided the CFPB a draft of the report for its review and comment and advises that:
"CFPB expressed concerns with the accuracy of the report, stating that the report contains inaccurate, biased, and incomplete information. CFPB stated that the agency was constrained by ongoing litigation from providing all the information and data necessary to correct the report and that it had cooperated and attempted, where possible, to provide accurate data and context. Further, CFPB characterized our timelines for requesting information as limited and arbitrary."
Addressing the litigation issue, in a footnote the GAO advises that "[w]e informed CFPB that the existence of litigation does not limit our 31 U.S.C. § 716(a)(1) authority to obtain information required for our audits, nor does it minimize CFPB's 31 U.S.C. § 716(a)(2) obligation to provide such information to us." The cited statutory provisions are among the provisions governing the GAO, with the first provision granting the GAO authority to obtain information from federal agencies, and the second provision obligating federal agencies to provide the information.
The GAO then states:
"We stand by the accuracy of the facts presented in our report, which are based on publicly available information including court dockets and Federal Register notices. As consistently explained in our communications to CFPB leadership throughout this audit, we conducted this work within the scope of our authority in an independent and nonpartisan manner, and we take no position on the policies underlying CFPB leadership's views about the agency's past actions or the size of the agency. Our focus was on presenting the dates and events that took place at CFPB between February and August 2025.
In accordance with our engagement process and agency protocols, we provided CFPB multiple opportunities to inform our work and ensure that we had complete and accurate information. CFPB did not take advantage of any opportunity to provide us with information it considered relevant to our work, only noting that ongoing litigation prevented it from doing so."
The report includes as an enclosure a letter from the CFPB to the GAO expressing its concerns regarding the draft report. The letter provides that report, "initiated at the behest of hyper-partisan Democrat Members, is full of biased and incomplete information, continuing its efforts to undermine President Trump's and Acting Director Vought's efforts to reform and right-size the CFPB, which has a history of weaponization."
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