March PPN Newsletter and Washington Policy Update

March Newsletter

Public Policy Network Coffee

Join FHLBank‘s Public Policy Network for an update and discussion on movements in Washington, D.C. on

Friday, May 2nd, 2025 at 3pm

Click Here to RSVP

Grab a cup of coffee and learn more about Congress and Administration while participating in an interactive discussion on policy developments in Washington.

Washington Policy Update

Allison Karakis, Senior Director, Government Relations

Congress was able to find a path to fund the government through Sept. 30 with some Democrats joining Republicans to avoid a government shutdown. Partisan tensions, however, have shown no sign of abating as the Trump Administration looks to pause or rescind Congressionally appropriated funding to specific departments and projects. Judicial challenges to that authority have begun and are expected to reach the Supreme Court at some point.

The pace of changes in Washington continues with daily announcements from the Trump Administration. Each order seems to bring more controversy, and Congress is being inundated with calls from constituents, protests and headlines in local papers that has to be managed while keeping up with all the changes.

Despite these daily headlines much work is happening behind the scenes in Congress. The massive tax bill that is a Trump priority continues to move through the budget reconciliation process which is both complex and time consuming. Potential provisions to pay for the tax cuts continue to circulate. Considerations for raising the debt ceiling to keep the government from default are playing into the Republican’s strategy for the tax bill.

Confirmation for FHFA Director Nominee, William Pulte

William Pulte was confirmed to be the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency on March 13 by the Senate in a 56-43 vote. He began making changes to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shortly after being sworn in. This included changes to both organizations’ Board of Directors and the removal of Executives, including Freddie Mac’s CEO. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been in conservatorship since 2008, and many have speculated that the Trump Administration will remove them from conservatorship over the next few years.

A recording of Pulte’s Senate Banking Committee confirmation hearing can be found here.

Executive Order on CDFIs and the Interagency Council on Homelessness

President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) recently that seeks to eliminate non-statutory functions and reduce statutory functions of specific government entities including the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

The EO reads in part:

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, the non-statutory components and functions of the following governmental entities shall be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, and such entities shall reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law:

(i) the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service;

(ii) the United States Agency for Global Media;

(iii) the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the Smithsonian Institution;

(iv) the Institute of Museum and Library Services;

(v) the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness;

(vi) the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund; and

(vii) the Minority Business Development Agency.

(b) Within 7 days of the date of this order, the head of each governmental entity listed in subsection (a) of this section shall submit a report to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget confirming full compliance with this order and explaining which components or functions of the governmental entity, if any, are statutorily required and to what extent.

The U.S. Department of Treasury in response sent a memo to the Office of Management and Budget that said all 11 programs under the CDFI fund are statutory.

March update from the Council of FHLBanks, a trade association for the FHLBank System is available here.

The effectiveness of the FHLBanks at connecting their members with the capital markets supports financial market stability and enhances members’ ability to support housing and community investment in all economic cycles. The majority of FHLBank members have less than $10 billion in assets and include many small lenders that serve rural and historically underbanked communities.* Without access to FHLBank financing, many of these institutions might have to curtail local lending activity and would be more vulnerable to macroeconomic and financial market shocks.

The dynamic and self-capitalizing nature of the FHLBank cooperative business model – where members are required to purchase capital stock to join their FHLBank and purchase additional stock when they borrow – allows the FHLBank System to expand and contract as the needs of members change. This contributes to FHLBank System efficiency when needed to maintain market presence in all economic environments. Strong investor demand for the FHLBanks’ debt securities (called consolidated obligations or ‘COs’) has helped make the FHLBank System one of the largest and most well-recognized issuers of high-quality debt securities in the world.