President Trump and Elon Musk plan to lay off nearly all 1,700 employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), according to testimony from workers. In statements released on Thursday, federal workers shared that this mass layoff was discussed during meetings this month with senior CFPB leaders and members of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
One employee, who went by the name Alex Doe for fear of retaliation, explained that their team was instructed to help fire most of the CFPB workers quickly. According to Doe, the plan was to cut the workforce in three stages: First, probationary and term employees would be let go. Next, around 1,200 employees would be laid off, leaving only a small group behind. Finally, within 60-90 days, the remaining staff would be reduced even further, with most workers being terminated.
This move comes at a critical time for the CFPB, an agency created to protect consumers after the 2008 financial crisis. Since DOGE members arrived at the CFPB earlier this month, the agency has closed its Washington office, started laying off employees, and told the remaining workers to stop nearly all their tasks.
The filings are part of a legal case started by a CFPB union to challenge the acting director, Russell Vought’s, plan to shut down the bureau. After about 200 probationary and term employees were fired, the union temporarily halted the layoffs until a hearing set for Monday.
The employees’ testimony shows a contrast between Vought’s public statements and what’s happening at the CFPB behind the scenes.
One worker, who spoke anonymously out of fear of retaliation, said, “CFPB leadership has also been apparently lying to us that it will allow us to follow the law and our statutory obligations to protect consumers. Those of us employed at the CFPB will not stop fighting for our right to get back to the work of protecting consumers that Congress has required of us.”
In a court filing on Monday, Vought denied plans to completely eliminate the CFPB. “The predicate to running a ‘more streamlined and efficient bureau’ is that there will continue to be a CFPB,” he wrote.
However, workers testified that the plan is to reduce the CFPB’s staff to the minimum legally required, with only five employees remaining. These five employees would either stay in a separate office or be moved to another agency.
From February 18 to February 25, workers were told by senior executives that the CFPB would be eliminated, leaving only five required positions. One executive even suggested that the CFPB would become “a room at Treasury, White House, or Federal Reserve with five men and a phone in it,” according to another employee, Drew Doe.
Employees said they are prepared to share their names and titles if instructed by the court, though they will keep their identities sealed for now.
