Acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Mick Mulvaney fired all 25 members of the agency’s internal advisory board on Wednesday, following criticism of his leadership by several board members earlier this week.
Mulvaney took control of the federal consumer watchdog agency earlier this year.
After waging a legal battle against its deputy director, who was designated acting chief of the agency after her Senate-confirmed predecessor stepped down last November, Mulvaney has faced criticism for declining to take swift enforcement actions against credit card companies, debt collectors, and banks.
Eleven members of the advisory panel echoed that criticism during a press conference on Monday, in addition to questioning Mulvaney’s decision to cancel legally required meetings with the Consumer Advisory Board. Mulvaney also serves as director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.
CFPB spokesman John Czwartacki took a parting shot at the outgoing advisory board members in a Wednesday statement to the Washington Post, suggesting they appeared to be “more concerned about protecting their taxpayer funded junkets to Washington, D.C., and being wined and dined by the Bureau than protecting consumers.”
Those who received notice of their firing on Wednesday were told the board was being revamped in an effort to boost outreach to the agency’s stakeholders and generate more “high quality feedback,” the Post reported. The agency also said its new advisory board, which is expected to be assembled this fall, will be smaller and hold fewer meetings.
Democrats slammed Mulvaney’s decision on Wednesday, claiming the move substantiated concerns that his ultimate intention is to shutter the agency altogether.
“Mick Mulvaney has no intention of putting consumers above financial firms that cheat them. This is what happens when you put someone in charge of an agency they think shouldn’t exist,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who played a key role in forming the agency under the Obama administration in 2011.
