President Donald Trump has put forward the nomination of Stuart Levenbach, a senior figure at the Office of Management and Budget, to take on the role of the next director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
This move seems largely aimed at keeping acting director Russ Vought in charge while the administration works on winding the agency down. The nomination, which was submitted on Tuesday, is being called a 'technical step' by a CFPB spokesperson.
According to federal guidelines, an acting director can stay in their position for longer than the usual 210-day limit if the president officially nominates someone else for the role.
Without this step, Vought would have lost his ability to lead the bureau in December. Since February, Vought has been managing the CFPB, during which time he has significantly reduced its operations, aimed to cut most of its staff, and warned in legal documents that the bureau is likely to run out of funds early next year.
The administration claims it cannot legally ask for more funding from the Federal Reserve, which is the CFPB's primary funding source. This has drawn criticism from Democrats.
Senator Elizabeth Warren indicated that the nomination is intended to extend Vought's time in the role 'indefinitely' as he attempts to 'illegally shut down' the agency she helped establish following the financial crisis.
It's still uncertain what the Senate's response will be to Levenbach's nomination.
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April 24, 2026 15:15 ET Economics news flow was relatively light this week even as the conflict in the Middle East continued, raising concerns for policymakers. In the U.S., spending data, initial jobless claims and pending home sales were the highlights. Business confidence in the biggest euro area economy was in focus in Europe. Inflation data from Japan gained attention in Asia.