Billionaire Elon Musk, ordered by President-elect Donald Trump to cut government spending, called on Wednesday to abolish the federal regulator tasked with protecting consumers in the financial sector.
The comments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) follow Musk's recent appointment to a government efficiency role, where he donated millions of dollars to help elect Trump. It will further expand the influence of the world's richest man.
“Get rid of the CFPB. There are too many overlapping regulators,” Musk said. said In a post on social media platform X.
The CFPB did not respond to requests for comment.
Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will co-lead the new Department of Government Efficiency, which Trump has signaled will operate outside of government.
The CFPB was created as part of the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act of 2010 to police and regulate consumer financial products in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, and only Congress has the power to abolish it.
Separately, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter, that the rules were put in place in the final weeks of the Democratic administration of Democratic President Joe Biden in an effort to boost consumer protection ahead of President Trump's overhaul of the consumer financial watchdog. It was reported that construction is underway.
Republicans have sought to downsize or eliminate the agency since its inception, but legislative efforts to abolish it entirely or impose severe limits on its funding and leadership have gained momentum in the years since its creation. has not been completed.
Banking industry executives and lawyers also predict that the incoming Trump administration will likely place significant restrictions on the CFPB.
