The U.S. Senate appropriations committee this week approved full funding for the fiscal year 2025 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (T-HUD), which provides $98.737 billion in total discretionary funding for agencies including Ginnie Mae.
The committee voted 28-1 to approve the bill in its current form, which calls for $67 million for salaries and expenses related to the operations of the government-owned company.
“This bipartisan bill makes critical new investments to help people keep a roof over their head and safely get to where they need to be — with new funding to hire more air traffic controllers and air and rail safety inspectors, boost our housing supply, sustain rental assistance, improve America’s roads and bridges, and much more,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the chair of the committee.
“This bill strengthens our efforts at the federal level to address the housing crisis, invests in improving transportation infrastructure in communities across the country, and will help keep our country moving forward,” Murray added.
Shortly after the committee approval, the Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA) provided a statement to HousingWire lauding the move.
“CHLA is thrilled to see the Senate boost in funding for Ginnie Mae, which plays a critical role for independent mortgage banks, and particularly for smaller issuers,” said Scott Olson, executive director of CHLA.
The next step will be for the bill to go to the full Senate for a floor vote. If the bill passes the Senate, it will need to be approved by the U.S. House of Representatives before progressing to the president’s desk to be signed into law. It may require a reconciliation process to bring the House and Senate versions into alignment.
CHLA and other trade groups, including the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), the Housing Policy Council (HPC), the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA) previously submitted a letter to House and Senate leaders urging full funding for Ginnie Mae.
Giving the company the “staff the agency needs to fulfill its responsibilities” will allow it to “focus on its core mission, including marketing Ginnie Mae securities to global investors and conducting oversight of the 300-plus companies that issue Ginnie Mae securities backed by FHA, RHS, and VA loans,” the letter explained.
A broad base of MBS issuers is “vital to maintaining a competitive mortgage market and keeping mortgage costs as low as possible,” the letter said. “With the sustained increase in long-term mortgage rates, homeownership affordability is strained, which means that enabling ongoing liquidity for low-down payment FHA, RHS, and VA loans, as well as maintaining the competition created by a broad issuer base, is particularly critical.”