Insights: Policy

Trump/Pulte Housing Supply Comments, GSE Policy, Regulatory Reforms

President Trump posted earlier this week that he feels homebuilders are not building a sufficient volume of housing, despite having been permitted for 2m lots, and that he’s asking the GSEs to “get [Big Homebuilders] going.” FHFA Director Pulte echoed Trump’s complaint about homebuilders and said the GSEs will “do just that.” Trump/Pulte’s...

The Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) activity around vaccine policy has begun to accelerate in recent days. Earlier this week, Acting CDC Director O’Neill formally adopted the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ (ACIP) recommendations regarding utilization of the COVID-19 and MMRV vaccines in certain populations. Separately, ACIP...

The Senate yesterday passed the annual defense authorization bill, known as the NDAA, and included a new version of the Biosecure Act, a bill that bans federal funding to certain Chinese biotech companies. The House did not include similar language in its NDAA, but last year approved its own version of the bill. The Senate has previously tried...

Treasury Secretary Bessent indicated that the administration may begin providing aid to farmers as early as this week, though reports indicate that this could slip, in part due to the government shutdown. Reports suggest that the administration is considering providing ~$10b in aid. Republicans, led by Sen. Grassley (R-IA), have been pushing the...

Fed Personnel/Litigation

Last week, the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) deferred a ruling on President Trump’s motion for stay on lower court rulings barring his firing of Federal Reserve Board Governor Cook. Rather than ruling on the President’s motion for a stay, SCOTUS has scheduled oral arguments on the matter for January. No official date has been set, but currently SCOTUS...

Government Shutdown

On Friday, the Senate took an additional vote on a House-passed “continuing resolution (CR)” that would provide appropriations through November and allow the government to re-open, but no Democrats voted for it beyond the three that had done so earlier last week. Seven Democratic votes will be required in addition to all Republicans to reach the...