Speaker at House Financial Services hearing criticizes Trump policies, urges housing investment and regulator oversight
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Summary
An unidentified speaker at the House Financial Services Committee blamed administration policies for rising housing and construction costs, cited $1.4 billion in alleged family gains and a $7.6 trillion mortgage-market exposure, and urged stronger federal investment and oversight of mortgage and consumer-finance agencies; officials named were absent from the hearing.
An unidentified speaker addressed the House Financial Services Committee, saying recent White House policies have concentrated gains at the top while making housing less affordable for ordinary Americans. “$1,400,000,000,” the speaker said, presenting that figure as money taken by the Trump family since his return to the White House and using it to frame a broader argument about economic inequality.
The speaker criticized a range of administration actions and proposals, saying they are worsening housing affordability. “He floats absurd ideas like a 50 year mortgage that would trap families in debt while doing nothing to lower cost,” the speaker said, and accused the administration of rolling back consumer protections and attacking programs such as the CDFI Fund that help small businesses access capital. The speaker also blamed tariffs for raising prices of lumber, steel and other materials and said immigration enforcement has reduced the construction workforce, both of which constrain housing supply.
The speaker told the committee Democrats had recently worked with Republicans to pass what was characterized in the remarks as the “housing for the 20 first century act,” calling the measure a “good first step” but saying one bill would not solve the crisis. The speaker asked for testimony from administration officials who oversee what the speaker characterized as a $7,600,000,000,000 mortgage market, and criticized a named official, saying, “Director Pulte is apparently too busy making false allegations … unlawfully installing himself on the boards of Fannie and Freddie, and pitching terrible and just plain dumb ideas like forever mortgages.” The speaker also asked aloud where the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was.
On the CFPB, the speaker said, “The agency that returned 21,000,000,000 to Americans who have been ripped off by Wall Street,” and noted members of the CFPB union, NTEU, were in the audience. The remarks concluded with an appeal for sustained federal housing investment, stronger oversight of consumer financial products and services, and accountability so access to capital is based on merit, not wealth or connections.
The speaker closed the allotted time with the procedural sign-off, “I yield back.” No testimony from the named administration officials is recorded in the transcript for this set of remarks, and no vote or formal committee action tied to these remarks is recorded in the segment.