Trump taps OMB official as new nominee for CFPB director

• Key Insight: The nomination allows acting CFPB Director Russell Vought to bypass the Federal Vacancy Reform Act. 
• What's at Stake: Vought has three weeks left before he reaches the 210-day limit to remain at the agency. With the nomination, he gets another 210 days and potentially can lead on an acting basis for 420 days.
• Forward Look: Levenbach said in his LinkedIn profile that his current job "is to ensure that agencies align with the President's priorities."
  

President Trump has nominated Stuart Levenbach, an official at the Office of Management and Budget, to be the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, though many observers say Levenbach is likely a placeholder nominee that allows acting CFPB Director Russell Vought to remain at the helm of the agency. 

Vought said last week that he thinks the CFPB will be closed by year-end. He claims that he cannot seek funding from the Federal Reserve which could lead to a shutdown of the agency. Since February, Levenbach has been working for Vought, who also heads the Office of Management and Budget.

The nomination of Levenbach and the CFPB funding dispute are part of a larger, ongoing political and legal battle by the Trump administration to shutter the bureau, experts claim. 

Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, Vought could potentially extend his role as the CFPB's acting director for more than a year. Though agency directors typically can serve for only 210 days, that time is extended if another person is nominated for the permanent position. By nominating Levenbach, Vought can serve for at least another 210 days while the Senate considers the nomination. A new 210-day period begins if the nominee is rejected or withdrawn.

A confirmation hearing date has not been scheduled and many experts think Republicans will simply sit on the nomination, allowing Vought to complete his policy objectives at the CFPB. 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, said in a press release that the nomination "looks like nothing more than a front for Russ Vought to stay on as Acting Director indefinitely as he tries to illegally close down the agency."

"Instead of doing everything in their power to lower costs for Americans, Trump and Vought want to make it easier for giant corporations to scam families out of their money," said Warren, who was the architect of the CFPB, coming up with the idea for the agency when she was a law professor at Harvard University.

Adam Rust, director of financial services for the Consumer Federation of America, said Vought was exploiting "a loophole" in the Vacancy Act.

"It's a ruse to evade the Vacancy Act so they can go forward with their plan to dismantle the agency," said Rust. "But the stakes are serious because what's at risk are the financial needs of regular people."

Levenbach has spent most of his career in government. He returned to OMB in February to work under Vought as associate director of natural resources, energy, science and water. He had previously served a 10 year-stint at OMB that ended in 2018.

A graduate of the University of Michigan, Levenbach received a Ph.D. in marine biology from University of California, Santa Barbara, and then spent two years as a Peace Corp volunteer in Ghana.

Levenbach made waves in the first Trump administration as a political appointee serving as chief of staff at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He was criticized by scientists for trying to tone down the conclusions of the National Climate Assessment, a congressionally mandated climate report.

After NOAA, Levenbach spent six months as a senior advisor to Larry Kudlow, who served as director of the National Economic Council in the first Trump administration. He also had been senior advisor to the chair of the Council on Environmental Policy.

Levenbach wrote on LinkedIn: "I began my career studying kelp forests and have since led high impact initiatives in natural resource policy across both the public and private sector."

In between the Trump administration, he spent three years at the energy firm Baker Hughes which coincided a four-year stint running his own consulting firm.

Last week, the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion stating that the CFPB cannot legally request funding from the Federal Reserve System, leaving the CFPB's future in limbo after Dec. 31. The DOJ sent a notice to two federal courts that the CFPB cannot legally request funding because the central bank technically has no profits. 

Litigation

DOJ: CFPB cannot request new funding from the Fed

November 11, 2025 3:11 PM

The CFPB's union sued Vought in February claiming he planned to fire up to 90% of the bureau's employees through a reduction-in-force. The National Treasury Employees Union, or NTEU, was granted a partial injunction that has kept Vought from firing staff. But an appeals court ruled in August that the RIFs were legal. That opinion is now being appealed, according to the notice filed by the DOJ with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. 

Vought also notified Congress that the CFPB only has enough money to continue operating through Dec. 31, leaving its future in limbo. He cited the Office of Legal Council's opinion about the CFPB funding as the reason why the agency may be forced to lay off employees. Without appropriations from Congress, the CFPB would technically cease to function.