Senate Moves Forward on Housing Finance Reform Effort

On December 10, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs held its final hearing on housing finance reform issues of the year, “Housing Finance Reform: Fundamentals of Transferring Credit Risk in a Future Housing Finance System.” The Committee leaders are drafting a comprehensive housing finance reform bill that they will advance through the Committee in 2014.

Committee Chair Tim Johnson (D-SD) and Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-ID) had initially expressed hope that the Committee would produce a draft bill by the end of 2013. However, at a Bipartisan Policy Center Housing Commission event on December 11, Senator Johnson said that the Committee “is not as far along in the process as I would have hoped.” He reported that the Committee is continuing to work in a bipartisan manner, and that it is “one of the few places in Congress where bipartisan policymaking takes place.”

Watch an archived webcast of the December 10 hearing and read all witness testimony at: http://1.usa.gov/1f4rb35