Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Center, Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., And Senate minority leader Charles Schumer, DN.Y., performs a press conference after the Senate Policy Luncheons in the Capitol, March 14, 2017.
Tom Williams | Or roll call | Getty images
Democrat Wetgevers, led by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, holding a forum on Tuesday that pushed back against the movements that the Trump government and Elon Musk took to neutralize the agency for financial protection of the consumer.
Guests at the event were, among other things, a retired military veteran helped by the agency, a mortgage broker who said that the CFPB helped to curb industry, and the former Head of the Bureau for Supervision.
But the focus of the attention of the senators was Elon Musk, the driving force behind the so -called Ministry of Efficiency of the Government. While Musk was invited to Washington’s event, DC, according to Warren, he did not appear.
The legislators wondered if Musk was in conflict in his efforts to dismantle the CFPB, which emphasized his recent plan to launch a digital payment service within X, the social media network that he owns.
“By grabbing the control over the desk, Musk can now be withdrawn by all the confidential data of the CFPB that Doge has accessible to these potential competitors,” Warren said. “While Musk is launching his new app, he is confronted with the supervision of the CFPB. His plan seems to be to eliminate the watchdog.”
A representative for Musk and X did not respond immediately to a request for comments.
Earlier this month, agents of doge access to CFPB systems, shortly before the new leadership of the agency, quickly ascertained the head office of the office, froze almost all activities and dismissals around 200 employees. A CFPB union has claimed in a lawsuit that acting CFPB director Russell Vought intends to dismiss more than 95% of the staff of the agency.
“Elon, how do you justify the conclusion of the desk that will look at your peer-to-peer payment plan?” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D.-Minn. Early rhetorically during the hearing Tuesday. “How do you justify the conclusion of the agency that has jurisdiction and supervision of many of the other financial issues with which you will earn money?”
‘Secret sauce’
Respond to a question from Senator Chris van Hollen, D.-Md., about what Musk could do with CFPB data, said Lorelei Salas, the former CFPB Supervisie Director, that the regulator has saved “Very sensitive trade secrecy information”, including from Payments Services PayPalCashApp and Zelle, as well as online money lenders.
“We have looked at a number of digital wallet companies, payment companies and we have information … about the technologies they use,” Salas said. “We have information about the secret sauce of the credit models that people used with artificial intelligence to make decisions about whether you get a loan or not.”
At the end of last year, the CFPB took steps to supervise technical giants and payment companies that dominate the market, including Apple And PayPal, and continued the operator of the Zelle Payments Network and the three largest American banks that used it because they reportedly did not investigate fraud complaints.
In addition to confidential data about companies investigated by the CFPB, the office has “very sensitive data” of consumers who submit complaints, Salas added. Consumers often leave account numbers and other personal information in their complaints, have said sources of agencies.
Now, with the CFPB and his employees in a state of Limbo, the question is how far musk and vought can take their campaign to minimize the watchdog. Has a federal judge stopped their effortssay that they cannot dismiss employees or data from the agency for the time being.
“The CFPB is sidelined, but it is not dead,” Warren said, claiming that only the congress can close the desk. “Proponents are now in court to ask judges to maintain the law, and I am convinced that they will win.”