Two employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) testified Tuesday that top officials’ plan to fire hundreds of workers remain intact, as a federal judge weighs whether to block the apparent dismantling of the agency.

The Trump administration initially planned to cut nearly 1,200 CFPB employees in early February before U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued an order blocking officials from conducting mass layoffs.

One top CFPB official, Adam Martinez, the agency's chief operating officer, suggested over two days of hearings that the CFPB had gone through chaos, but was now essentially functioning at the level required by law.

However, two witnesses on on Tuesday painted a much darker picture.

These witnesses said top CFPB officials are moving forward with efforts to completely shutter the agency through a large-scale workforce reduction plan.

Workers are also not being given a chance to apply for other positions in the government while reductions are done. Typically laid off employees can seek to be reassigned to "competitive areas" in the government that might offer them similar jobs.

“There would be no competition because there would be no jobs to compete for,”........

© The Hill