Risky Expansion of Mortgage Bond Purchases Threatens Financial Stability Under Trump’s FHFA Director

In the waning months before a critical midterm election, federal housing finance chief Bill Pulte has quietly removed nearly two decades of bipartisan restrictions designed to protect taxpayers from reckless risks posed by government-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This shift directly threatens American financial security by allowing these entities to nearly double their holdings of risky mortgage bonds—an authority that could balloon from $40 billion caps to $225 billion apiece. This decision reverses hard-earned post-2008 policies that prevented the kind of reckless behaviors which nearly crashed the nation’s economy. Following the financial crisis, Congress imposed limits on...