June 06, 2025

Warren, Schumer, Democratic Senators Call on Pulte to Halt Fannie and Freddie Reprivatization Efforts Before Assessing Impact on Families

“We have serious concerns that you plan to make significant changes to the Enterprises in a way that would put investor profits over the homes of millions of Americans.”

Read letter here

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and Minority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), led more than a dozen Democratic Senators in a letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agenc`y (FHFA) Director, Bill Pulte, raising concerns about the Trump Administration’s recent discussions about reprivatizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which could dramatically raise housing costs for millions of Americans while delivering a windfall to wealthy investors. 

“Given the seismic change this decision represents and the concerns it raises about the stability of our nation’s housing and financial markets, we write to ask that [FHFA] pause efforts to reprivatize or otherwise alter the Enterprises, including relisting their common and preferred stock.” wrote the Senators

The Senators continued: “Economists have warned that reprivatizing the Enterprises could have disastrous effects on the mortgage market, driving up costs for homebuyers even further. For example, some experts have estimated that mortgage rates could increase by up to 1% in the first year of privatization alone.”

The lawmakers pressed Director Pulte for details on the Administration’s plans: “It has also been reported that the Administration may consider relisting the Enterprises on a stock exchange … However, the Administration has also not released any information indicating whether the Enterprises’ financial positions would make it feasible to take them public, including by relisting their common and preferred stock, or what taking them public would entail.” 

The Senators requested answers to their questions by June 18, 2025, followed by a briefing to discuss the responses.

Other signers of the letter include Banking Committee members Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Lisa Blunt-Rochester (D-DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Chris Van Hollen (D-Mary.), Mark Warner (D-VA), as well as Senators Bernie Sanders (D-VT), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Gary Peters (D-Mich), and Ron Wyden (D-OR). 

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