Maxine Waters
Wave Staff Report
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters has stepped up her criticism of President Donald Trump for ordering a freeze on all federal grants and loans and for firing Rohit Chopra as the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Waters, D-Los Angeles, called Trump’s order to freeze the disbursement of federal grants and loans “poorly drafted and ambiguous.” She also praised U.S. District Judge Loren Alikham for putting the freeze on hold.
“The Trump administration’s poorly drafted and ambiguous order is a scheme straight out of the Project 2025 playbook that if not indefinitely blocked, threatens to permanently shut off trillions of dollars of funding, including critical funding for housing, community development, homelessness and mortgage lending programs in the midst of a national housing crisis, and potentially leave small businesses out to dry,” Waters said in a statement released by her office.
“While more than 771,000 people are experiencing homelessness in the United States and nearly half of all families are spending over 30% of their income on rent, Trump’s latest actions seeking to freeze federal funds that help end homelessness and increase the supply of affordable housing will exacerbate our nation’s housing crisis,” she added.
Waters said Trump’s order would also jeopardize funding for public housing, assistance for the elderly and people with disabilities and civil rights enforcement while throwing the nation’s mortgage market into chaos.
“Given the confusing and conflicting messages being conveyed by the Trump administration about this order, this reckless freeze could hinder community development financial institutions, including community banks and credit unions, from getting the support they need to provide financial access to underserved communities and small businesses,” Waters added. “Considering the sweeping nature of the order, it could impact critical emergency tools that promote financial stability.”
Calling the order cruel, sloppy and destructive, Waters said it was nothing more than an attempt to make room for more corporate tax cuts and enrich Trump’s billionaire friends, all while leaving hardworking, working-class families to bear the cost.
Waters said she would join with other Democrats in Congress to hold the Trump administration accountable and use every tool available to protect the Constitution, Congress’ power of the purse and put the American people first.
As for Chopra being dismissed as the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Waters called it the end of an era of strong consumer protection and the beginning of a plan to end “this important agency.”
“Since taking the helm of the CFPB in 2021, Director Chopra has worked tirelessly to ensure the agency fulfills its critical mission of protecting American families in the financial marketplace,” Waters said. “In the face of repeated and coordinated attacks, Director Chopra’s fearless advocacy on behalf of working-class families has returned more than $6 billion to harmed consumers.”
Waters said Chopra has taken decisive action to address the harsh reality that hardworking families are increasingly stretched thin and living paycheck to paycheck.
Under his leadership, she said, the CFPB has taken action to eliminate costly and illegal junk fees imposed by big banks, hold student loan servicers like Navient accountable for defrauding hardworking students, protect service members from high-interest loans, promote transparency in the small business lending market, ban medical debt from being used to block creditworthy borrowers from accessing credit, tackle discrimination in housing and the economy, and take on big banks like Wells Fargo for repeatedly breaking the law and exploiting the very consumers they claim to serve.
She called the decision to fire Chopra the first step by Trump, Elon Musk and their Republican allies to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau entirely, leaving consumers with no place to turn to for help and no real watchdog to hold predatory lenders and other bad actors accountable.
“Rest assured, my fellow Democrats and I will continue to fight, as we have for more than 14 years, to defend the CFPB from Republican attacks and ensure they stay true to its mission of protecting hardworking Americans from financial institutions who continue to profit at their expense.”
LIFTOUT
“The Trump Administration’s poorly drafted and ambiguous order is a scheme straight out of the Project 2025 playbook.”
— U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters
