| When Congress returns on September 2 from the traditional August congressional recess, lawmakers are staring down a fast-approaching deadline to fund the federal government and avert a shutdown by September 30. With just four weeks to strike a deal, partisan tensions are already running high. A short-term funding patch appears inevitable at some point this fall, but with competing ultimatums and deep ideological divides, the path to keeping the government open is anything but clear. MBA continues its advocacy on our industry’s key legislative priorities, including (but not limited to): – Reinforcing our efforts for a responsible release of the housing GSEs and the need for fairer credit score pricing; – Continued engagement on the Senate Banking Committee’s ROAD to Housing Act of 2025, which includes key rural housing and multifamily provisions to improve housing opportunities – but also contains troubling appraisal reforms that increase TILA liability for lenders; – Maintaining adequate funding for agencies that support essential multi- and single-family housing programs, e.g., FHA, Ginnie Mae, VA, USDA; and – Pushing for swift implementation of the newly enacted partial claim (PC) authority by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) – including any needed technical corrections to the new law. Here’s a breakdown of the latest actions your association has been taking on Capitol Hill. |
| Top 3 Things to Know from Washington 1. On July 4, the Trump Tax Package Became Law MBA is pleased that the final H.R. 1 package (now Public Law 119-21) preserves, strengthens, and/or makes permanent numerous tax priority provisions for our industry. Some of the priority wins secured through MBA’s direct advocacy with congressional tax writers (and their key staff) include: – making permanent the 2017 individual rate structure and increasing the standard deduction; – preserving and making permanent the 20% deduction for Qualified Business Income (Section 199A), with an expanded “phase-in” range; – capping permanently the deductibility of mortgage acquisition debt interest (mortgage interest deduction) at $750,000 (HELOCs remain eligible); – reinstating and making permanent mortgage insurance premium deductibility (Adjusted Gross Income limits apply); and – preserving the deferred tax treatment of Mortgage Servicing Rights (MSRs). Click here to see the supportive statement from the MBA on the Passage of the Republican-led tax and Reconciliation Package. Click here to see MBA’s more exhaustive summary of the provisions of the new law. 2. Trigger Leads Reform is Close to Enactment! The House (on June 23) and the Senate (on August 2) have both passed identical versions of H.R. 2808, the Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act of 2025, as amended, by voice vote and unanimous consent, respectively. This highly anticipated outcome is the direct result of MBA’s multi-year advocacy efforts. The bill now awaits its official enrollment and the President’s signature and enactment into public law, which will likely occur in the next few weeks. Final passage of this bill would not have happened without your direct engagement, including MAA members responding to calls to action and sending thousands of messages to their elected officials since our reform efforts began during the prior Congress. Your voice mobilized an MBA-led coalition of industry trade groups and housing advocates that pushed leaders in the House and Senate to ultimately reach a consensus after the proposal was tweaked at various points in the legislative process – and then harmonized and passed by both chambers. A special thanks to our trigger leads reform champions – Senators Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Jack Reed (D-RI) and Reps. John Rose (R-TN) and Ritchie Torres (D-NY) – for their tireless efforts to steer this MBA-supported proposal across the finish line. Once signed into law, the new law will restrict the use of trigger leads to only specified circumstances during a real estate transaction. These limited uses include when the entity wanting to use a trigger lead provides certification that either: (1) the consumer has authorized the solicitation; (2) the entity originated the consumer’s current residential mortgage loan; (3) it is the servicer of the consumer’s current residential mortgage loan; or (4) it is an insured depository institution or insured credit union and holds a deposit account for the consumer to whom the consumer report relates. For additional details, view this recently-released video, along with a related press statement from MBA President and CEO Bob Broeksmit, CMB. 3. Veteran Affairs (VA) Partial Claim (PC) Authority Signed into Law MBA successfully advocated for swift Senate adoption of H.R. 1815, bipartisan legislation to restore partial claims (PC) authority as a loss mitigation option for the VA Home Loan Program. The bill, which passed the House by voice vote in May, was also passed similarly in the full Senate on the evening of July 15. On July 30, President Trump signed the legislation into law, which reflects extensive MBA and member stakeholder input designed to align the VA program with loss mitigation tools utilized by both the FHA and Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac. Just like with trigger leads, advocacy actions in support of this needed set of changes included MAA members responding to calls to action and sending hundreds of messages to elected officials over the past few years – setting the stage for three separate witness testimonies by MBA before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee. MBA continues to lead a broad coalition of consumer advocates and industry members pushing for swift implementation by the VA of this newly-enacted authority, as well as a possible set of remaining technical fixes to further refine/improve the PC program within a planned year-end House/Senate omnibus veterans’ legislative package. For additional details, read the latest MBA Advocacy Breaking News notice, along with a related press statement from MBA President and CEO Bob Broeksmit, CMB. |