Rep. Waters Urges CFPB Employees to Become Whistleblowers

In an open letter to employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Rep. Maxine Waters [D-Calif.], the chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, is urging anyone who has witnessed “waste, fraud, abuse or gross mismanagement” at the agency to come forward and alert her or her staff.

Rep. Waters also announced that the Committee’s semi-annual review of the CFPB will be held on Thursday, March 7 at 10am. Usually, the director or acting director of the CFPB is invited to testify and answer questions before the committee, which, if tradition holds, would mark Kathy Kraninger’s first time before Congress since her confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee last August.

The letter from Rep. Waters lays out the protections afforded to individuals who come forward with information under the Whistleblower Protection Act. Rep. Waters was a vocal supporter of former Director Richard Cordray and a vocal opponent of Mick Mulvaney, who was acting director in the year between Cordray’s resignation and the confirmation of Kraninger.

“Let me assure you that actions to weaken the Consumer Bureau from within as Director Mulvaney attempted to do will not go unchecked or unnoticed,” Rep Waters wrote. “As Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, I will fight against any and all efforts to weaken the Consumer Bureau and make sure that your important work to protect consumers, as Congress intended, can continue.”

While a press release announcing the letter says it was “sent” to employees of the CFPB, the release does not indicate how it was actually delivered to all of the bureau’s employees.

A published report remarked the letter was a “turnaround” for Rep. Waters, which laid out two instances of issues at the CFPB where Rep. Waters either made no comment or did not publicly urge employees to reach out to her or her staff.