Attorney General Kris Mayes of Arizona has joined a group of state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration. The legal action aims to prevent what the coalition describes as the complete defunding of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an agency that has returned more than $21 billion to over 205 million Americans since its creation.
The suit follows actions by Russell Vought, currently serving as acting director of the CFPB, who declined to request funding from the Federal Reserve. According to Attorney General Mayes and her counterparts, this move will cause the agency to run out of money by January 2026, severely impacting consumer protection efforts nationwide.
Attorney General Mayes stated, “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is one of the most effective tools we have to hold big banks and financial institutions accountable when they cheat people. Deliberately starving this agency of funding leaves consumers at risk of fraud, predatory lending, and abusive financial practices. My office is taking action to protect consumers from this reckless and unlawful action.”
The CFPB was established after the Great Recession as an independent entity funded by the Federal Reserve. Its responsibilities include regulating financial institutions, collecting economic data, writing rules for industry compliance, and processing millions of consumer complaints annually. It also supervises major banks for adherence to federal consumer protection laws.
State attorneys general argue that their offices depend on data from CFPB consumer complaints for investigations and enforcement actions against financial wrongdoing. For instance, states use demographic and geographic lending information collected under federal law to combat discriminatory mortgage practices.
In November, Vought asserted that CFPB could only be funded through profits generated by the Federal Reserve—a position he claimed was not feasible due to a lack of current profits—leading him not to request funds for 2026 operations.
Mayes and other attorneys general contend that this decision violates both statutory requirements and constitutional principles regarding congressional authority over agency funding mechanisms. They seek a court order compelling continued funding requests necessary for CFPB’s operation.
Attorneys general from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin and Washington D.C., have joined Arizona in this legal effort.
