Budget bill, SCOTUS give ‘clear path’ to CFPB firings

Employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are bracing for mass layoffs now that Congress has slashed the agency’s budget in half and the Supreme Court gave the Trump administration the go-ahead to gut federal agencies.

Acting CFPB Director Russell Vought is expected to issue a reduction in force, or RIF, immediately after an appellate panel rules on whether to lift a lower court injunction that has prevented the agency from successfully instituting mass layoffs.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is expected to rule imminently on whether the Trump administration can issue a RIF, which could result in the firing of up to 1,300 employees at the beleaguered agency. The CFPB had 1,750 employees in February; several hundred have left the…