White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney, the Trump-appointed interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, advocated in a staff-wide memo Tuesday to pull back on the agency's aggressive enforcement approach, declaring an end to the days of “pushing the envelope.”

Saying he owed staff a clear explanation of how the agency would change under new leadership, Mulvaney told the staff he has no intention of shutting down an agency he harshly criticized as a Republican member of Congress. Mulvaney called for a more restrained enforcement approach, saying the agency would no longer—in the words of former CFPB Director Richard Cordray—be involved in “pushing the envelope.”

“Indeed, I think it is fair to say that the previous governing philosophy here was to aggressively 'push the envelope' in pursuit of the 'mission'; that we were the 'good guys' and the 'new sheriff in town,' out to fight the 'bad guys.' Simply put: that is what is going to be different,” Mulvaney wrote in the staff-wide email, titled “To Everybody from the Acting Director.” Mulvaney published a version of his email as an op-ed at The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

“In fact, that entire governing philosophy of pushing the envelope frightens me a little. I would hope it would bother you as well,” Mulvaney wrote in the email to staff.

Mulvaney's leadership has already led to a lighter touch. Last week, the CFPB dropped—without explanation—a case in Kansas federal court against four payday lenders it had accused of unlawfully collecting on high-interest loans. Earlier in the week, he announced the CFPB would be revisiting regulations finalized last year on the payday lending industry.

On Monday, lending company World Acceptance Corp., based in South Carolina, disclosed the CFPB had ended an investigation into the company. It was unclear to what extent that decision was driven by Mulvaney, who is reviewing the CFPB's pending enforcement cases and investigations. The company declined to comment on the matter Tuesday.

Mulvaney plans to solicit feedback on CFPB's operations, starting with comments on the agency's subpoenas, which are known as “civil investigative demands.” In his email Tuesday, Mulvaney urged employees to keep in mind the heavy toll that such investigative demands and enforcement actions can take.

“It is not appropriate for any government entity to 'push the envelope' when it comes into conflict with our citizens. The damage that we can do to people could linger for years and cost them their jobs, their savings, and their homes,” Mulvaney wrote. “If the CFPB loses a court case because we 'pushed too hard,' we simply move on to the next matter. But where do those that we have charged go to get their time, their money, or their good names back? If a company closes its doors under the weight of a multi-year civil investigative demand, you and I will still have jobs at CFPB. But what about the workers who are laid off as a result? Where do they go the next morning?”

Mulvaney's comments appeared to take direct aim at the CFPB's history of enforcing the Dodd-Frank Act's prohibition on unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices—the so-called “UDAAP” provision that the agency has been accused of over-extending.

Mulvaney said certain circumstances will require “vigorous” enforcement by the agency. In past statements, Mulvaney had stated he was a member of the executive branch and would “execute the laws of the United States, including the provisions of Dodd-Frank that govern the CFPB.” But he acknowledged the CFPB's interpretation and enforcement of Dodd-Frank would be “dramatically different” under the Trump administration.

Within a month of taking his side job as the CFPB's acting director, Mulvaney drew criticism for changing the agency's mission statement to include a line about eliminating “outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome regulations.”

In his email Tuesday, Mulvaney again articulated what he described as the CFPB's “new 'mission.'”

The CFPB, he wrote, “will exercise, with humility and prudence, the almost unparalleled power given to us to faithfully enforce the law in furtherance of the mandate given to us by Congress. But we go no further. Simply put, the days of aggressively 'pushing the envelope' of the law in the name of the 'mission' are over.”

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