According to media reports, Russell Vought, the Director of the Office and Management and Budget, who is also serving as the Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Board, ordered all CFPB employees to stop work.  

The CFPB, which was formed more than a decade ago, is a federal agency charged with enforcing consumer protection laws in the financial sector.  The CFPB is charged with enforcing a wide variety of consumer protection laws, such as the the Consumer Financial Protection Act, the Consumer Leasing Act of 1976, the Fair Credit Billing Act, The Federal Deposit Insurance Act, and the Truth in Lending Act, to name a few.  The Consumer Financial Protection Act, for example, prohibits covered companies from engaging in “any unfair, deceptive, or abusive act or practice."

The media is also reporting that a group of Democrats, led by Congresswoman Maxine Waters, sent a letter to the Treasury Secretary asking for the stop work order to be rescinded.  They wrote, “We urge you to immediately rescind what appears to be an illegal stop work order and allow the public servants at the CFPB to get back to work for the American people as required by law.”