Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) praised the Supreme Court’s Thursday decision to reject a Republican challenge to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) funding structure.
“The Supreme Court has followed the law and the CFPB is here to stay,” Warren said outside the Supreme Court.
“This is really great, this news is great,” she said.
The court’s decision Thursday upholds the agency’s funding mechanism as constitutional. The 7-2 vote ended a battle that has been the organization’s biggest legal threat since it was founded after the 2008 financial crisis.
Warren was one of the principal founders of the CFPB, which was created to enforce consumer protection laws and crack down on predatory lending through the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act.
Faith in Action pastor and senior strategist Cassandra Gould was also on hand Thursday to celebrate the decision.
“When you have a government agency that does such a good job of protecting consumers, you have a lot of banks, payday lenders, a lot of Republicans going after it and trying to shut it down.” said Warren.
Two lender associations, backed by business groups and Republican state attorneys general, sought to attack the Federal Reserve’s funding of the agency as a violation of Congressional authority.
Justice Clarence Thomas, speaking for the majority, rejected that argument and ultimately sided with the Biden administration.
Warren said President Biden helped strengthen the CFPB because he believes in its work.
The Massachusetts senator said Thursday was a day of celebration, but warned that more challenges could come.
“We will not fool ourselves. They will come back again, make another attack, find another way to target the agency. They will do it again and again and again. “Maybe,” she said.
Warren argued that Republicans are attacking the CFPB because it costs banks and payday lenders “tremendous costs.”
“So, yeah, we know they’re out there. They’ve got a lot of money, so we’re going to keep fighting, but so are we,” she said.
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