{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.gallego.senate.gov/news/press-releases/gallego-warren-warnock-kim-press-vought-on-how-illegally-shuttering-the-cfpb-would-risk-disrupting-the-mortgage-market-and-harm-american-homebuyers/", "Gallego, Warren, Warnock, Kim Press Vought on How Illegally Shuttering the CFPB Would Risk Disrupting the Mortgage Market and Harm American Homebuyers", "2025-12-06", "2025", "2025-12", "Democrat", "Senate", "AZ", "Ruben Gallego", "G000574", "www.gallego.senate.gov", "gallego", "https://www.gallego.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Senators Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Rev. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), and Andy Kim (D-NJ) sent a letter to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Acting Director Russell Vought raising concerns about how his illegal efforts to shutter the agency could affect the consumer mortgage market and the attainability of homeownership in the United States.\n\n\u201cThe CFPB is the primary regulator of the $13 trillion consumer mortgage market, and it is the federal agency responsible for preventing mortgage lenders from offering predatory and subprime mortgage terms to borrowers\u2014a key driver of the 2008 financial crisis,\u201d wrote the Senators. \u201cIf the CFPB stops publishing standardized APOR (Average Prime Offer Rates) tables, lenders might not make loans to lower-income borrowers, given the risk of coming in too far above the APOR and potentially getting sued. Or, they might raise interest rates on loans to compensate for the increased risk the market will price in without the liability shield that comes with making a QM loan\u2014skewing the cost of homeownership and cutting off credit access for borrowers.\u201d\n\nThe Senators referred to earlier comments made by the Mortgage Bankers Association, National Association of Home Builders, and National Association of Realtors in a 2023 amicus brief emphasizing the \u201cpotentially catastrophic consequences\u201d of shuttering the CFPB\u2019s work and \u201ccall(ing) into question \u2026 crucial regulations issued by the CFPB over the past years.\u201d Their amicus brief explained that \u201cdrawing those rules into doubt\u201d could \u201clead to immediate and intense disruption to the housing market, harming both consumers and the broader economy.\u201d\n\nThe Senators described the potential negative effects of even temporary uncertainty around CFPB\u2019s mortgage-related rules: \u201cIf the CFPB\u2019s many rules regulating the mortgage industry were called into question, lenders would struggle to carry out their legal and contractual obligations; uncertainty would prompt a flood of lawsuits against mortgage lenders, servicers, and real estate professionals; and the ensuing confusion and litigation \u2018could lead to severe instability, liquidity issues, and operational problems in the mortgage market.\u2019\u201d\n\nThey also highlighted how shuttering the CFPB could worsen the housing crisis: \u201cThe housing industry\u2019s amicus brief also explained that illiquidity and instability in the mortgage market would make it extremely difficult for homebuilders and consumers to obtain mortgages, which would exacerbate the nation\u2019s worsening housing crisis and \u2018shift [the housing market] toward the relatively few buyers who can afford to purchase a home with cash.\u2019 In fact, nearly 80 percent of homebuyers and 97 percent of first-time homebuyers rely on loans to purchase their homes.\u201d\n\nThe Senators concluded by calling for Vought to provide answers to the following questions:\n\nAre CFPB staff who calculate the APOR among those you intend to furlough without pay on December 31?\n\nDoes the CFPB intend to stop publishing APOR tables? If so, when?\n\nHas the CFPB developed alternatives to publishing APOR tables? If so, describe them.\n\nRead the full letter HERE.\n\n12/6/25", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.gallego.senate.gov/news/press-releases/gallego-warren-warnock-kim-press-vought-on-how-illegally-shuttering-the-cfpb-would-risk-disrupting-the-mortgage-market-and-harm-american-homebuyers/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 3.206932917237282, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}