The U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon held that Acting Director Mark Paoletta must request necessary funding from the Federal Reserve so the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can operate as Congress intended; the court said the agency must be lawfully funded to perform its duties.
The court also held that former Acting Director Vought’s insistence not to request funds was unlawful and violated the Separation of Powers Clause, the attorney general’s office said. The attorney general’s office said the order resolves in large part the lawsuit the office and a coalition of 22 attorneys general filed last year; the case remains pending on appeal.
California’s press release described the background: the CFPB was created to protect consumers in the financial marketplace and has spent 14 years enforcing consumer protections and supporting state regulators. The release said the Trump Administration took steps that sought to cripple the CFPB, and that in November 2025 the CFPB gave notice it would not request funding from the Federal Reserve based on a Department of Justice legal analysis calling the Federal Reserve “unprofitable.”
Attorney General co-led the coalition that sued; the attorneys general argued the CFPB’s failure to seek funding would prevent statutorily mandated functions, including operations of its consumer complaints database, and would harm consumers. The order requires the agency to seek funding so those functions can continue, the release said.
“Today, we celebrate a giant win for consumers,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said. “The CFPB is a critical resource for families and working Americans and has worked for over a decade to stand up for consumers taken advantage of by big banks, debt collectors, and credit reporting companies,” he added.
State
Rob Bonta
Attorney General · Democrat
Named 3 times in this story.
Portrait: Official portrait
World
Catherine Russell
Executive Director of UNICEF
Named once in this story.
Portrait: European Union, 2025 (European Commission Audiovisual Service) / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
Sources & methodology
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