NEW YORK (AP) — In Washington, even a name change is fraught with political drama.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is pushing to be referred to as the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, a surface level, but notable change for the agency tasked with protecting consumers against debt collectors and banks.
Officials say the change reflects the bureau’s legal name, but critics say it underscores the abrupt ideological turn the bureau has taken since Trump-appointee Mick Mulvaney took over. The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act did create a “Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection” but that name has rarely been used, except occasionally in court filings.
Under Mulvaney, the bureau has proposed revisiting the regulations and policies the Obama administration put in place, and has also reduced the number of enforcement actions it has taken.
