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Vought Presents the CFPB Semiannual Report to Senate Banking, Jul. 16, 2026

July 16, 2026 · PBS NewsHour · 2:01:46

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Russell Vought testified before the Senate Banking Committee on July 16, 2026, presenting the CFPB’s semiannual report to Congress in his role as the Bureau’s acting director, in PBS NewsHour’s full recording. The chairman opened by welcoming what he called ‘a new day’ at the Bureau — one that, in his words, respects the limits of its authority. Vought’s opening tracked his House testimony of the day before: an agency found ‘weaponized’ and beyond its mandate, the Council of Economic Advisers’ $237–$370 billion consumer-cost estimate since 2011 as he stated it, enforcement refocused on clear violations and actual harm, and the Bureau downsized to the maximum extent possible while continuing to operate under its statutory purpose.

Senator Elizabeth Warren answered with a report she said her office was releasing that day, putting the cost of Vought’s CFPB changes to American families at $26.5 billion — the attributed counter-figure, carried here as she delivered it — and pressed him on rescinded financial settlements in the exchange Forbes carried as a segment.

Why it matters

The back-to-back House and Senate semiannual hearings close the public record of Vought’s CFPB tenure: his downsizing case and the $26.5 billion counter-claim, stated to his face in both chambers within 24 hours.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: the CFPB record as contested on July 16, 2026 — Vought’s CEA cost figure against Senator Warren’s $26.5 billion counter-figure, both as stated — flagged for the scoreboard editors; the entry itself remains review-gated.

Sources: PBS NewsHour, ‘WATCH LIVE: Vought testifies on Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in Senate hearing,’ July 16, 2026 (video Kjccjx5wXeM); transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, never republished verbatim). Alternate sources recorded in the index: Forbes Breaking News (hT0GncVnk1w, 2wwezi8vPXA), APT (F7z7KMhuENA) and Forbes’ Warren segment (RYNt34FOXFI).