Sen. Tim Kaine met with CFPB employees on Friday who were fired as a result of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency federal workforce reductions. Kaine accused Musk of targeting the CFPB for his own gain. (Getty/Reuters)
"These folks are doing great work," Kaine said. "This is an agency that returned $21 billion to consumers who got ripped off. I know the Virginia statistics. It's tens of thousands of Virginians who got relief because of the work that these folks did."
Virginia has the second-highest number of federal civilian employees in the United States, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Kaine has been a vocal opponent of DOGE’s federal workforce cuts, holding town hall meetings to address concerns from his constituents.
Kaine said Musk and DOGE are "hurting people to help themselves" by promoting a government that yields a "huge giveaway to Elon Musk and people just like him."
"There's just too much bubbling up about Musk trying to get a contract here with the Department of State, trying to displace a contract at the DoD, and maybe steer it toward either his own companies or companies that he's close to. When you allow an unelected guy to just come with the chainsaw and have access to people's… and look, they've released data that they shouldn't release: sensitive data, classified data, names of people who did not authorize them to put their data out to the world. They're engaging in behavior that's hurting people… why? I think they're hurting people to help themselves," Kaine said.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 10, 2025. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
Joe Valenti, a former CFPB term worker who met with Kaine on Friday, told Fox News Digital he was locked out of the CFPB office last month, received a stop-work order and then a termination letter with no severance.
Valenti said consumer finance laws are "not necessarily being enforced" by halting CFPB operations.
"The federal government is abdicating from its role in protecting working people from financial harms and that affects low-income constituents, like the people who I served at CFPB. It affects service members, affects veterans, seniors. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act is one of the laws that CFPB would oversee and enforce. That goes back to World War I. If you don't have a cop at the beat at all, what's going on in the markets and what does it mean for people who are affected by market abuses?" Valenti said.
CPFB is one of several agencies that has been impacted by DOGE’s federal workforce reductions. Elon Musk posted on X on Feb. 7, "CFPB RIP," followed by a gravestone emoji.
President Donald Trump has touted CFPB cuts, telling the Future Investment Initiative Institute Priority Summit on Feb. 19 that his administration "virtually shut down" CFPB.
"We virtually shut down the out-of-control CFPB, escorting radical-left bureaucrats out of the building and locking the doors behind them. What they were doing was so terrible. Where they were spending the money was so terrible," Trump said.
Russell Vought is sworn in during the Senate Banking Committee confirmation hearing on Jan. 22, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
Vought ordered CFPB employees to halt agency operations unless otherwise approved on Feb. 10. Seventy-three newly hired "probationary employees" and 70 to 100 "term employees" were subsequently fired while around 200 contracts were canceled, according to the lawsuit and media reports.
Three CFPB leaders were placed on administrative leave in early February, Fox News Digital confirmed. An agency spokesperson said CFPB's chief legal officer, Mark Paoletta, placed Lorelei Salas, the CFPB’s supervision director, and Eric Halperin, the agency’s enforcement chief, and Zixta Martinez, the agency's deputy director, on administrative leave.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
There have been protests outside the CFPB headquarters in Washington since the firings, featuring Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass, who initially proposed the agency.
CFPB is an independent government agency intended to protect consumers from unfair financial practices in the private sector. It was created by President Barack Obama’s administration in 2010 following the Great Recession of 2008.
Fox News Digital's Emma Colton contributed to this report.
Deirdre Heavey is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hurting-people-help-themselves-dem-senator-disses-doges-cfpb-cuts