Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) on Wednesday ripped President Trump’s plan to give up federal control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as a scheme to “line the pockets of the wealthy” that will likely increase average mortgage costs.
Schumer warned the average family could be hit with an $1,800 to $2,800 increase in annual mortgage costs.
“Trump’s housing proposal to privatize Fannie and Freddie is yet another economic policy that will upend middle-class Americans looking to buy or refinance a home while helping line the pockets of the wealthy,” Schumer said in a statement.
He said that “experts have warned for years” that privatizing Fannie and Freddie, which finance 70 percent of the mortgage market, would “threaten the financial security of middle-class Americans” and make it more expensive to buy homes.
“Yet, Trump and his cronies only see an opportunity to loot the state, no matter the cost to hard-working families and our broader economy,” he said.
Trump this week confirmed he wants to take the mortgage giants public, a move that could benefit Wall Street investor Bill Ackman, whose hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management has a major investment in Fannie and Freddie.
Other investors that have taken sizable stakes in the entities in the past include John Paulson, Anchorage Capital Group, Discovery Capital Management LLC and Blackstone Credit, according to a Wall Street Journal report from 2021.
The Journal reported at the time that the trade had outlived some of its earlier investors, as Paulson’s firm and Perry Capital turned into family offices or shut down, and Anchorage and Blackstone Credit exited it in 2020.
Trump said that the federal government would continue to guarantee the solvency of Fannie and Freddie, even after relinquishing them from federal conservatorship, which they have been in since the 2008 financial crisis.
“I am working on TAKING THESE AMAZING COMPANIES PUBLIC, but I want to be clear, the U.S. Government will keep its implicit GUARANTEES, and I will stay strong in my position on overseeing them as President,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
