Republican lawmakers Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida are spearheading an effort to eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The move comes as the lawmakers introduce a bill on Thursday to repeal the Consumer Financial Protection Act that created the agency, and restore federal laws “as if the act had not been enacted.” This bill has been obtained by Fox News Digital.

Since its establishment in 2010, the CFPB has come under criticism from Republican lawmakers and financial groups, who have deemed the agency as an unnecessary burden on the financial industry.

“The CFPB is an utter and complete waste of government spending and should be eliminated,” Cruz, who is the ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, told Fox News Digital in a statement. “It is entirely ineffective and does very little to protect consumers.”

Cruz further claimed that the CFPB is a sham, Obama-mandated organization, whose sole purpose is to stifle economic growth by enforcing burdensome, unnecessary economic regulations. According to Cruz, “ending the CFPB will spur economic growth at a time when Texans and Americans sorely need it.”

Established after the Great Recession of 2008, the CFPB was designed to serve as a financial sector watchdog. The agency consolidates consumer financial protection authorities that had existed across seven different federal agencies into one. However, Cruz and Donalds argue that the agency’s existence hinders economic prosperity and imposes unnecessary regulations on American consumers.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, is credited with establishing the agency. She first proposed it in 2007 when she was a Harvard Law School professor, and former President Barack Obama later appointed her to serve as a White House adviser with the task of overseeing the CFPB’s formation in late 2010.

Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, John Barrasso of Wyoming, and Rand Paul of Kentucky, joined Cruz in introducing the Repeal CFPB Act on Thursday.

Cruz had previously attempted to repeal the CFPB in 2015 and has since led several similar efforts.

Donalds echoed Cruz’s sentiments, calling the CFPB the epitome of the Washington Swamp: an unconstitutional, unaccountable, and overreaching government agency with no Congressional oversight. He argues that the CFPB hinders economic prosperity by imposing burdensome and unnecessary regulations on American consumers.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments in a case involving the constitutionality of the CFPB. Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled that the agency’s funding structure was unconstitutional, as Congress delegates its appropriations power to the CFPB, thereby violating the Constitution’s separation of powers clause. Oral arguments for the case are expected to take place in the fall, with a decision expected in 2024.