The president’s plan to maintain the implicit guarantee of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac MBS still leaves unanswered many questions that skeptics say are critical to the GSEs’ safe and sound exit from conservatorship.
The FHFA director suggested the decision on whether to release Fannie and Freddie from conservatorship depends mostly on President Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
FHFA Director Bill Pulte gets a glimpse of what congressional oversight looks like as leading Democrats criticize him for actions in his first weeks in office.
During a confirmation hearing last week, Trump’s nominee to head FHFA was noncommittal in response to questions about GSE reform, a hint that the administration has other priorities.
The government watchdog said federal agencies associated with housing finance have met three of five critical criteria for mitigating the risk they pose to taxpayers.
Even though their businesses depend on Fannie and Freddie, private mortgage insurance providers don’t seem worried about the Trump administration’s efforts to release the GSEs from conservatorship.
FHFA must turn conservatorship directives into regulations before releasing the GSEs from conservatorship, according to former agency director Mark Calabria. But an explicit guarantee is unnecessary, he said.
The Trump administration’s failure to name acting directors for key federal agencies leaves them either under the control of Biden appointees or without a presidentially appointed leader.