The daily business briefing: June 7, 2018

Mulvaney fires his entire consumer watchdog advisory board, two of EPA chief Scott Pruitt's top aides resign, and more

Mick Mulvaney, the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, gutted the agency's advisory board.
(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

1. Mulvaney fires consumer watchdog's entire advisory board

Mick Mulvaney, the interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has fired all 25 members of the agency's Consumer Advisory Board, days after some of them publicly criticized his leadership. The panel advises the watchdog agency's leaders on regulations and policies. The decision came after Mulvaney made a series of moves to shift from the pro-enforcement positions of his predecessor, Richard Cordray, and align the organization more closely with business interests. An agency spokesman said the critics appeared "more concerned about protecting their taxpayer-funded junkets to Washington, D.C.," than protecting consumers. National Consumer Law Center attorney Chi Chi Wu, a board member, called the dismissals "a huge red flag in this administration's ongoing erosion of critical financial protections that help average families."

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.