24-year-old DOGE official Gavin Kliger rushes CFPB worker termination notices

DC Appeals Court ruled 2-1 on Aug. 15, 2025, allowing Trump administration to eliminate 1,400 of 1,700 CFPB employees, leaving 200 workers to regulate the entire $23 trillion financial industry

Each remaining CFPB employee must now police $115 billion in financial activity—an impossible oversight task that effectively ends consumer protection enforcement and investigation capabilities

Judge Nina Pillard dissented, warning the ruling allows presidents to unilaterally abolish agencies created by Congress without legislative approval or constitutional authority

CFPB has returned $21 billion to consumers since 2011, with investigations into medical debt, student loans, and digital payments now permanently halted due to staffing cuts

Trump cut CFPB funding from 12% to 6.5% of Federal Reserve operating expenses through the One Big Beautiful Bill, starving the agency before mass layoffs began

Gavin Kliger, a 24-year-old DOGE official, allegedly screamed at staff and kept them awake 36 hours straight to rush out layoff notices on compressed timeline

The layoffs violate Congress intent in creating CFPB with 87 specific legal mandates that cannot be fulfilled with skeleton crews according to legal experts and consumer advocates