Latest news with #EvaSteege
CBS News
12-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
In chaos of mass DOGE firings, a grieving husband fights to save consumer agency
Eva Steege may have seemed like an unlikely combattant in the pushback against mass firings by the Trump administration. The 83-year-old retired Lutheran pastor was in hospice, unable to walk, when she was asked to join a group seeking to block the administration's gutting of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. "It took us about five minutes to decide that that was a good thing to do," her husband Ted Steege, 82, told CBS News in an interview. When Eva died in March, Ted took her place in the lawsuit which, to this point, has prevented the agency's dismantling and yielded hundreds of pages of internal communications shedding new light on DOGE's effort to slash the federal workforce. Steege has become one face of the human toll wrought by the chaos and scope of the mass federal firings that marked the Trump administration's first 100 days in Washington. "We saw an opportunity, not just to gain something that we were entitled to, but also to do something that will change lives for lots of dedicated workers and for people all around the country who have suffered injustices, quiet things that nobody ever notices," Ted Steege said. The injustice the couple faced originated with Eva's decision in her 60s to fulfill a lifelong dream of becoming a pastor. To afford her seminary school tuition, Steege said the couple sold their house and took on $43,000 in debt. For years, they dutifully paid down the debt but, as of January, still believed they owed about $17,000. On the advice of Lutheran Social Services, the couple approached the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for help enrolling in a federal loan forgiveness program. Established by Congress in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the bureau, known as the CFPB, is tasked with protecting consumers from financial fraud and shady lending practices. Workers reviewing the Steeges' case discovered the Steeges didn't need loan forgiveness at all — that in fact they had overpaid and were owed them more than $15,000 in refunds. Filled with hope, the couple planned on meeting with CFPB staffers on Feb. 10. That morning the Trump administration issued a stop work order effectively shutting down the agency. "An email came that said, sorry we have different directives," Steege said. "We can't meet with you." Ted Steege CBS News A grieving husband joins the court battle over DOGE firings Now, he's fighting to restore the bureau's functions by staving off the mass firing of its employees. The battle is playing out in federal court, where earlier this month appellate judges issued a ruling to temporarily block the Trump administration's latest effort to slash the workforce. The ruling came after a flurry of filings in the case made public a trove of emails, internal chats and sworn employee declarations. The documents revealed a frantic push in April by agency leadership and DOGE officials to fire nearly 1,500 employees — about 90% of the CFPB's staff. Helping to carry out the mass dismissals was a 25-year-old DOGE official named Gavin Kliger, who has helped implement cuts across at least half a dozen federal agencies. Kliger has no federal government experience prior to working for DOGE. CBS News reached Kliger by phone, but he declined to offer comments or answer questions. In a statement, a White House spokesperson disputed the idea that Kliger "managed" the firings at CFPB, but did not clarify his role. In an internal chat made public in the court filings, messages show Kliger claiming he would "be running this operation." According to sworn testimony from a CFPB employee, Kliger allegedly demanded staffers prepare firing notices for 36 hours straight, "screaming at people he did not believe were working fast enough, calling them incompetent." The White House spokesperson said the allegations against Kliger were "another attempt to diminish DOGE's critical mission to [make] government more effective and efficient." Former director disputes claim of "vast waste" Before they were put on hold by the court, the CFPB's Trump-appointed chief legal officer defended the firings, saying they were necessary to "better align with Administration police, and right-size Bureau" and claimed "leadership discovered vast waste". The CFPB did not respond to a request for comment about the Steeges' case or the ongoing efforts by agency leadership to reduce its workforce. In an interview with CBS News, former CFPB Director Rohit Chopra called that finding of waste "completely made up." He said the bureau will cease to function if the administration's cuts are allowed to proceed. "This is a 'defund the police' approach to looking after Wall Street and the financial industry," said Chopra, who was fired by the White House in February despite President Trump having appointed him to a role on the Federal Trade Commission during his first term. Chopra said extending help to borrowers like Ted and Eva Steege who are looking to mount challenges against predatory lenders is core to the agency's mission. "Every day, thousands of people come to the CFPB for help like this, and all of that looks like it's getting shut down," he said. As the courts wrestle over the administration's actions, Ted Steege is continuing to pursue Eva's reimbursement claim, hoping the agency will survive long enough to help deliver the money she was owed. "She definitely wanted to have that refund money to be part of our estate and make things better for our children and grandchildren," he said.
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pastor details taking fight to the Trump administration to get her student loans forgiven. All from her hospice bed
Pastor Eva Steege planned to meet with officials from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on February 10 hoping to get $15,000 of student debt forgiven. She was under the nation's Public Service Loan Forgiveness program that is designed to give loan relief to people who participate in public service. In Steege's case she used the money to fund her seminary training. But the day before her meeting, Steege learned that President Donald Trump – with help from Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency – had taken steps to shut down the CFPB - the agency that was supposed to help her with the Department of Education and eliminate the debt. To make matters worse, Steege was battling advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She was given just six months to live and now lives in hospice care. 'We're caught in the backwash of what Trump is trying to do with the CFPB… [he] wants to reduce waste fraud and abuse, but there's no waste fraud and abuse here,' Steege, 83, and her husband, Ted, told The Independent. Steege, who prior to joining the clergy was a banker, public relations worker and a teacher, is now the sole consumer plaintiff in a lawsuit being brought against the CFPB and Acting Director Russell Vought to challenge the unlawful dismantling of the bureau. The lawsuit, amended last month to include Steege, states that she 'is entitled to discharge her loans under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, and the CFPB was helping her do so.' 'Pastor Steege wants to ensure that she discharges her debt before she dies, so that she will not burden her surviving family, and because she could pass on to her family as much as $15,000 of overpayments,' the suit states. 'Pastor Steege had a meeting scheduled with the was suddenly canceled because of the CFPB's unlawful closure. 'Absent the CFPB's assistance, it is unlikely that she will be able to discharge her debt and get her overpayments returned before she passes away.' Steege joins the CFPB Employee Association, Gupta Wessler LLP, NAACP, National Consumer Law Center, the National Treasury Employees Union, Public Citizen Litigation Group and the Virginia Poverty Law Center in the lawsuit that seeks to halt what the group calls 'illegal actions' by CFPB's appointed and acting officials. The Independent has reached out to the CFPB for comment on the lawsuit brought by Steege and the other parties. Steege had struggled to enroll in a federal loan forgiveness plan, operated through the Department of Education. 'I have friends who have zipped right through the process [of enrolling in PSLF], but it still feels like it's one thing after another that makes this fairly simple thing much more difficult than it needs to be,' Steege told The Independent. 'Add to that, I had a slightly more complicated public service career, but it also feels like they're almost looking for ways that they don't have to do this. I know that's probably not true in the real world, but I can imagine a lot of people thinking, 'Why on earth do they have a reason for stopping this kind of fairly direct, simple request?' 'I put my original request in in 2022 – that's a long time – and I've filled out all the forms nicely and as precisely as I know how. And yet, there's some other weird reason why they can't do this.' It was only last year that she sought help getting into the program through the CFPB – the agency created after the 2008 financial crisis and designed to protect consumers. After an initial meeting in January, she was hopeful that she might finally enroll in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, have her loans forgiven and receive a refund. A follow-up meeting was scheduled with CFPB for February 10. That was until Trump and Musk started making their cuts. 'I guess there's an odd feeling. It might be my own, it might not be valid, but it feels like one way or another, they're going out of their way to make this thing worse,' Steege told The Independent. 'One of the Feds' suggestions even was, can you believe it, that maybe my computer wasn't working, and I should go to the library or find some other reason why this wasn't working – that it's somehow my fault.' If the CFPB isn't able to help her, Pastor Steege will spend her final six months 'in great duress, worried that she is leaving her family with a financial burden and without the monetary help to which they are entitled' the suit states. The timing of the suit is somewhat ironic. Trump declared the week of March 2 as 'National Consumer Protection Week 2025.' 'Consumer rights are a cornerstone of American freedom, a building block of the American economy, and a foundation of American success,' a Friday press release from the White House read. 'During this National Consumer Protection Week, we renew our commitment to protecting the American consumer, upholding the right to privacy and transparency, and ensuring the American economy remains free and prosperous.' Ted Steege says that his wife's inclusion in the suit is to show the Trump administration 'the damage being done to ordinary citizens' by the attempt to wipe out the CFPB. He says the suit is not about politics, but about 'finding the justice' for his wife. 'So long as the Trump administration is willing to wipe out that agency entirely, then it means people like us, and there's many thousands of them… who are in the middle of trying to get justice that's due to them, it makes it impossible. He added: 'I certainly don't object to the government administration looking for efficiencies, but this is a very inefficient way of dealing with the needs of taxpayers… Obviously we're not in total poverty, and we will survive, but it's going to be much harder to do that if she's not getting what she deserves under this program.'
The Independent
15-03-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Pastor details taking fight to the Trump administration to get her student loans forgiven. All from her hospice bed
Pastor Eva Steege planned to meet with officials from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on February 10 hoping to get $15,000 of student debt forgiven. She was under the nation's Public Service Loan Forgiveness program that is designed to give loan relief to people who participate in public service. In Steege's case she used the money to fund her seminary training. But the day before her meeting, Steege learned that President Donald Trump – with help from Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency – had taken steps to shut down the CFPB - the agency that was supposed to help her with the Department of Education and eliminate the debt. To make matters worse, Steege was battling advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She was given just six months to live and now lives in hospice care. 'We're caught in the backwash of what Trump is trying to do with the CFPB… [he] wants to reduce waste fraud and abuse, but there's no waste fraud and abuse here,' Steege, 83, and her husband, Ted, told The Independent. Steege, who prior to joining the clergy was a banker, public relations worker and a teacher, is now the sole consumer plaintiff in a lawsuit being brought against the CFPB and Acting Director Russell Vought to challenge the unlawful dismantling of the bureau. The lawsuit, amended last month to include Steege, states that she 'is entitled to discharge her loans under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, and the CFPB was helping her do so.' 'Pastor Steege wants to ensure that she discharges her debt before she dies, so that she will not burden her surviving family, and because she could pass on to her family as much as $15,000 of overpayments,' the suit states. 'Pastor Steege had a meeting scheduled with the was suddenly canceled because of the CFPB's unlawful closure. 'Absent the CFPB's assistance, it is unlikely that she will be able to discharge her debt and get her overpayments returned before she passes away.' Steege joins the CFPB Employee Association, Gupta Wessler LLP, NAACP, National Consumer Law Center, the National Treasury Employees Union, Public Citizen Litigation Group and the Virginia Poverty Law Center in the lawsuit that seeks to halt what the group calls 'illegal actions' by CFPB's appointed and acting officials. The Independent has reached out to the CFPB for comment on the lawsuit brought by Steege and the other parties. Steege had struggled to enroll in a federal loan forgiveness plan, operated through the Department of Education. 'I have friends who have zipped right through the process [of enrolling in PSLF], but it still feels like it's one thing after another that makes this fairly simple thing much more difficult than it needs to be,' Steege told The Independent. 'Add to that, I had a slightly more complicated public service career, but it also feels like they're almost looking for ways that they don't have to do this. I know that's probably not true in the real world, but I can imagine a lot of people thinking, 'Why on earth do they have a reason for stopping this kind of fairly direct, simple request?' 'I put my original request in in 2022 – that's a long time – and I've filled out all the forms nicely and as precisely as I know how. And yet, there's some other weird reason why they can't do this.' It was only last year that she sought help getting into the program through the CFPB – the agency created after the 2008 financial crisis and designed to protect consumers. After an initial meeting in January, she was hopeful that she might finally enroll in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, have her loans forgiven and receive a refund. A follow-up meeting was scheduled with CFPB for February 10. That was until Trump and Musk started making their cuts. 'I guess there's an odd feeling. It might be my own, it might not be valid, but it feels like one way or another, they're going out of their way to make this thing worse,' Steege told The Independent. 'One of the Feds' suggestions even was, can you believe it, that maybe my computer wasn't working, and I should go to the library or find some other reason why this wasn't working – that it's somehow my fault.' If the CFPB isn't able to help her, Pastor Steege will spend her final six months 'in great duress, worried that she is leaving her family with a financial burden and without the monetary help to which they are entitled' the suit states. The timing of the suit is somewhat ironic. Trump declared the week of March 2 as 'National Consumer Protection Week 2025.' ' Consumer rights are a cornerstone of American freedom, a building block of the American economy, and a foundation of American success,' a Friday press release from the White House read. 'During this National Consumer Protection Week, we renew our commitment to protecting the American consumer, upholding the right to privacy and transparency, and ensuring the American economy remains free and prosperous.' Ted Steege says that his wife's inclusion in the suit is to show the Trump administration 'the damage being done to ordinary citizens' by the attempt to wipe out the CFPB. He says the suit is not about politics, but about 'finding the justice' for his wife. 'So long as the Trump administration is willing to wipe out that agency entirely, then it means people like us, and there's many thousands of them… who are in the middle of trying to get justice that's due to them, it makes it impossible. He added: 'I certainly don't object to the government administration looking for efficiencies, but this is a very inefficient way of dealing with the needs of taxpayers… Obviously we're not in total poverty, and we will survive, but it's going to be much harder to do that if she's not getting what she deserves under this program.'
