Consumer Financial Protection Bureau acting director Russell Vought gave the same opening statement during separate hearing this week hosted by the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services and the U.S. Senate Banking Committee.

As part of the bureau’s semi-annual report to Congress, Vought reiterated his team evaluated the CFPB and “found an agency that was weaponized, out-of-control, and had gone far beyond its statutory mandate.

“Under previous administrations, this agency actually imposed huge costs on the American people and stifled the innovation and resourcefulness that is necessary for a strong economy,” Vought told lawmakers. “Consumers paid the price, literally, in the form of higher prices, reduced product offerings, increased borrowing expenses, and misuse of their taxpayer dollars.”

The acting director backed his assertions by saying that the Council of Economic Advisors found that CFPB has cost consumers $237 billion to $369 billion since 2011.

“Instead of going down this destructive path, we have steered the bureau towards operating with humility, accountability, and fiscal responsibility,” Vought told lawmakers. “Regulations should be justified by statute, not the whims of ideologues at the bureau. Supervision should be precisely targeted to avoid stifling economic growth and innovation and disproportionately increasing compliance costs. And enforcement should be based on clear violations of law; not on advancing a political agenda outside of accountability and oversight from elected officials and the American people.

“The bureau’s express purpose is to implement and enforce federal consumer financial law consistently so that all consumers have access to markets and that such markets are fair, transparent, and competitive. While we have sought to downscale this agency to the maximum extent possible and rein in its abuses, we have continued to operate it in accordance with that purpose,” he continued.

Multiple Republican House members agreed with Vought’s assertions. Here are comments shared via a news release from the House Committee:

Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia said, “The CFPB was designed, no matter how flawed that design was, to protect consumers. I think it’s been clear to many of us who have sat, at least in the dais and on this side of the room, for many years, that was not what the CFPB was doing, but it was a name and shame organization against businesses and industries that it determined, or its director determined, they did not like. That is not the design. That is not the constitutional design nor the design of what any government agency should be. And so, our constitutional system entrusts Congress with writing the laws and the executive branch with faithfully executing them. That distinction is fundamental to ensuring that significant policy decisions are made by the people’s elected representatives, rather than by administrative agencies, which is what we’ve seen within the CFPB for many years, writing their own rules and proceeding with their own agenda.”

Rep. John Rose of Tennessee said, “Institutions with strong compliance management systems, histories of cooperation, and low-risk business models should not necessarily be subject to the same supervisory intensity as firms with repeated compliance failures or evidence of consumer harm. A risk-based supervisory framework not only allows the CFPB to focus on its greatest threats to consumers, it also reduces unnecessary regulatory burdens on responsible institutions that are making good faith efforts to comply with the law.”

The House committee ranking member pushed back. Rep. Maxine Waters of California gave a scathing opening statement during this week’s hearing.

“Mr. Vought, for a year and a half, Committee Democrats have demanded answers while you have refused to provide them,” Waters began. “We sent you letters, requested briefings, and repeatedly called for this hearing. Instead of being proud of your work, you have been hiding while unlawfully trying, and thankfully failing, to dismantle the nation’s top consumer watchdog. I’ve never delighted in someone’s failure more than I have delighted in yours.

“Next week marks the 15th anniversary of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau opening its doors. It was created after the 2008 financial crisis when millions of Americans were scammed out of their homes. Congress wanted working families to have someone on their side,” she continued.

“And until you showed up, the bureau was on their side. CFPB returned $21 billion to millions of consumers cheated by banks, mortgage servicers, payday lenders, credit reporting companies, debt collectors, and others. Because of CFPB’s hardworking public servants — some of them are in the audience — the agency held bad actors accountable and got justice for Americans,” Waters continued. “But not under your watch. Mr. Vought, you’ve directed CFPB to drop enforcement actions even when the bad actor offered to compensate victims.  You’ve blocked billions of dollars from being returned to harmed American consumers. You’ve even been terrible for the financial services industry, denying or throwing out basic guidance and safeguards industry had asked for. And, your message to Wall Street is clear: you are defunding the police and you’re breaking the law to do it.

“Consumer complaints about financial practices have exploded, with more complaints filed under your watch than cumulatively filed since 2011. That is not a coincidence. It’s because of you,” she went on to say.

Nonetheless, Vought pledged to continue the current path the CFPB has taken during the past few months.

“Under President Trump, there has been a paradigm shift in the way CFPB regulates, supervises, and enforces the laws as required under the Dodd-Frank Act,” Vought said. “Though we have improved a great deal about how it operates, the bureau remains structurally defective and I do not believe it should exist in its current form.

“I have been committed to running it in a responsible manner and addressing real harms instead of remaking financial markets in service of a radical political agenda. If confirmed, I know President Trump’s nominee, Brian Johnson, will do a great job in continuing to steer the CFPB in an appropriate manner,” Vought continued. “Ultimately, however, the CFPB must be subject to Congress’s most basic function — the appropriations process — to ensure accountability and legitimize an otherwise unserious agency.”