The prospect of a weaker CFPB and less regulation all around has excited investors. Short-term-lending companies Enova International and Worldwide Acceptance Corp. have hit 52-week highs since Election Day, up more than 30 percent and 29 percent. Signs of defanging ahead are driving up shares of Regions Financial Corp. and International Bancshares Corp., banks that Jeffries analyst John Hecht says are exposed to another area of CFPB interest, overdraft fees. They have risen 17 and 25 percent since Nov. 8.

The threat has Warren excited, too:

The president-elect has said he plans to dismantle the Dodd-Frank Act. He hasn’t discussed specific plans for the CFPB. With current filibuster rules, Congress likely can’t change the agency without the votes of some Senate Democrats.

But Republicans may have a degree of leverage. While Cordray’s term doesn’t run out until 2018, Trump might be able to replace him sooner. A federal appeals court in October voided a provision that the director could be removed by the president only for cause. The agency has said it is “considering options” for seeking a review of the ruling.

That Trump could have his pick of directors “is enough to prod the desire for a bipartisan solution,” says Raj Date, who was the CFPB’s first deputy director. The U.S. Public Interest Research Group’s consumer program advocate, Mike Litt, expects the action to heat up during the federal budget process in Congress in December.

“We’re anticipating that there will be attempts to use the budget to sneak in attacks against the CFPB with a bunch of policy riders,” he says.

One possible change is rolling back the power of the director, who can approve rules and enforcement actions alone. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) has proposed, as part of legislation that would jettison other parts of Dodd-Frank, to have the bureau run by a bipartisan five-member committee.

There have been proposals to change the source of the agency’s funding, which comes from the Federal Reserve rather than through Congress. The CFPB’s future depends on being able to pay salaries that attract talent, says Georgetown Law’s Levitin.

“If you’re a recent grad at a top law school, if you have any interest in federal regulation, the CFPB is the place to go,” he says. “That could change on a dime.”

Hensarling has proposed requiring the CFPB to do more cost-benefit analysis before adopting rules and wants to take the term “abusive” out of its charter.