U.S. President Donald Trump participates in NORAD Santa tracker phone calls, on Christmas Eve, from the Mar-a-lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., December 24, 2025. REUTERS/Jessica Koscielniak
On Tuesday, December 30, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) got a reprieve when a federal judge rejected the Trump administration's argument that it is legally barred from securing funding for the independent federal agency.
The judge, Reuters reports, noted an existing court order that bars the Trump Administration from shutting the CFPB down.
Reuters' Douglas Gillison notes, "The ruling came 24 hours before the last day on which officials said there would be sufficient funding to meet the operating expenses at the CFPB."
The CFPB was established in 2011 during then-President Barack Obama's first term with the aggressive encouragement of liberal now-Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) — who argued that such an agency was badly needed in light of the hardship caused by the Great Recession and the Wall Street meltdown of September 2008.
During Donald Trump's second presidency, however, the CFPB became a major target of his administration and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
SpaceX/Tesla/X.com leader Elon Musk headed DOGE earlier in the year, and his critics at CFPB argued that he had a conflict of interest with DOGE — as CFPB was investigating some of his businesses.
