Republican AGs Want To Gut The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

The Republican Attorneys General Association fought to help a Supreme Court case against the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.

The Supreme Court is set to rule this term in a case that could lead to the elimination of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A federal agency tasked with protecting consumers from predatory lending and banking practices, the CFPB is being sued by two trade groups representing industries it regulates: The groups filed their suit in 2018 over a rule aimed at protecting borrowers from payday lenders.

The case is the latest step in a yearslong conservative fight to dismantle the CFPB. At least 13 states, including red states like Arkansas and Georgia, have limited or made payday lending illegal, and others have passed recent ballot initiatives to crack down on the industry.

CFPB - CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU sign at headquarters building

Despite widespread approval among Republican voters to regulate or prohibit payday lending, Republican officials in more than 20 states are backing industry groups in the suit. All but two of the 28 members of the Republican Attorneys General Association, or RAGA, sought to intervene in the case. The move came after payday lending and banking industry groups regulated and fined by the CFPB poured out millions of dollars in campaign contributions, according to an analysis of the donations set to be published Wednesday by the watchdog group Accountable.US.