Acting Attorney General Jennifer Davenport announced today that New Jersey is co-leading a motion on behalf of a coalition of states seeking, on an expedited basis, to stop the Trump Administration from defunding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) before current funding expires at the end of March. The decision not to fund the CFPB, the motion explains, undermines the longstanding federal and state consumer protection efforts that are necessary to protect residents and their pocketbooks.
“Across the nation, prices are skyrocketing for middle- and working-class families. In New Jersey, people are struggling to keep up as endless attacks from Washington continue to drive rising costs,” said Governor Mikie Sherrill. “Defunding the CFPB will compound the affordability crisis we are facing, doing away with critical consumer protections that New Jerseyans rely on. My Administration is committed to protecting our residents, fighting for affordability, and holding the Trump Administration accountable for their actions that erode the public’s trust.”
“Our promise is clear: when officials in Washington issue unlawful policies that increase costs here in New Jersey, we will be there to protect our residents,” said Acting Attorney General Davenport. “The CFPB exists to ensure that federal and state agencies can protect consumers from threats like price gouging, and that work is needed now more than ever as New Jerseyans and the rest of the country struggle with an affordability crisis. Because the Federal Government is trying to unlawfully defund the CFPB, I’m proud to stand with my colleagues and lead the fight to prevent these illegal, cost-raising actions.”
New Jersey and 21 other states sued the Trump Administration in December, in light of the Trump Administration’s threats to leave CPFB without federal funding at the end of that month.
In its latest attempt to shut down the nation’s consumer protection watchdog, the Trump Administration is now taking the unprecedented position that the CFPB may only be funded when the Federal Reserve has available “profits”—contrary to the law and longstanding practice. As a result, the Trump Administration recently declared that it would refuse to seek any of the funding available to it under federal law. Based on a court order in another suit, the Administration ultimately requested funding for the CFPB, but only through March 2026.
To ensure the CFPB remains funded even after March, Acting AG Davenport is co-leading a motion today seeking an expedited decision requiring the CFPB to keep seeking the funding from the Federal Reserve available under federal law—before the CFPB is permanently damaged by the Administration’s insistence on destroying it.
As the motion for summary judgment explains, the Federal Government’s decision to strip the CFPB of its funding not only undermines federal consumer protection efforts, but harms the states’ own consumer protection efforts, which rely on consumer complaints and data from the CFPB. A loss of CFPB resources will have devastating impacts on the States’ ability to protect individuals and families from scams and predatory corporate behavior.
Established in the wake of the Great Recession, the CFPB is an independent agency funded entirely by the Federal Reserve and focused on regulating financial institutions and products to protect consumers. The CFPB writes and enforces rules to regulate financial institutions, collects critical economic data, and fields millions of consumer complaints every year. The CFPB has returned more than $21 billion improperly taken from over 205 million Americans throughout its 14-year existence.
New Jersey and other States routinely work with and rely on the CFPB to protect consumers. The CFPB is legally mandated to provide vital information to States to aid their consumer protection efforts. States rely on consumer complaints from CFPB to investigate wrongdoing, secure refunds and restitution for consumers, and support their own enforcement actions against financial institutions. The CFPB also collects demographic and geographic lending data under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, which States (including New Jersey) use to protect homebuyers from discriminatory lending. And States regularly partner with the CFPB on large-scale, nationwide investigations. Completely defunding the CFPB will eliminate this important resource for resolving complaints and protecting cheated consumers.
Acting Attorney General Davenport is co-leading this lawsuit with Attorneys General from New York, Oregon, Colorado, and California. Joining them in filing the suit are Attorneys General from Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.