Tag Archives: Politics

The leaders of the Senate Banking Committee announced Tuesday plans to move forward on a new proposal to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in favor of a new government backstop for private financiers. According to committee chairman Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota) and ranking member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), the newly unveiled reform proposal is the result of months of exploratory hearings and negotiations.

A new bill designed to reform the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is on its way to the U.S. Senate after passing in the house. H.R. 3193 (the Consumer Financial Freedom and Washington Accountability Act) was created to bring more "accountability and transparency" to the agency, according to Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wisconsin), the bill's sponsor.

In his speech Tuesday night, the president only directly mentioned housing twice: first to describe the market as "rebounding" and again to demand from Congress "legislation that protects the taxpayers from footing the bill for a housing crisis ever again." While the second might be seen as a nod toward legislative movements to abolish Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the topic wasn't explored any further. Instead, much of Obama's focus went toward addressing wage stagnation.

The United States Senate voted Monday to confirm Janet Yellen as chair of the Federal Reserve following Ben Bernanke's departure at the end of January. She will be the first woman to take the job in the Fed's history.

In a commentary shared with theMReport.com, Peter Muoio, chief economist for Auction.com Research, revealed the company's predictions for 2014. Chief among his predictions: Housing will get its second wind, the Federal Reserve's stimulus taper will take longer than most people expect, and Congress will (hopefully) get out of the way of the housing recovery--though even Muoio acknowledges the latter prediction might just be hopeful thinking on his part.

Mortgage industry commentators may argue (and they certainly have) about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) performance over the last year, but one thing is certain: The bureau knows how to command headlines. Early this year, CFPB finally issued its long awaited Qualified Mortgage (QM) guidelines along with a slew of other finance regulations. With the future of housing finance on the line, it's no wonder readers of theMReport.com couldn't tear themselves away from the news.

More than a year after reporting a shortfall of $16.3 billion in the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) Mutual Mortgage Insurance (MMI) Fund, HUD announced significant improvements in the agency's financial situation--though the fund remains in the red. An actuarial report released Friday shows FHA's insurance fund for single-family home loans has regained $15 billion dollars in value over the last year, bringing it to -$1.3 billion dollars and a capital ratio of -0.11 percent.

The Index of Consumer Sentiment, a joint measure tracked by the University of Michigan and Thomson Reuters, rose to 75.1 for the final November tally, making up some of the ground lost in October, when it dropped to 73.2. Last year, the index was measured at 82.7. While November's improvement made up somewhat for October's shutdown-related losses, consumers still feel stung by the government's economic debate. Spontaneous negative references to the government's economic policies were made by 32 percent of Americans in November.

Now that Senate Democrats have changed the chamber's rules to block filibusters of executive appointments, analysts anticipate a much easier path for Rep. Mel Watt.

With the federal government shutdown and debt ceiling negotiations still fresh in the nation's collective mind, Fannie Mae expects "continued market volatility" heading into the start of 2014.