Fed governor pushes for July rate cuts: ‘We could do this’ 

Fed official says it's nearly time for rate cuts

A top Federal Reserve Board of Governors official spoke out about the possibility of lowering interest rates soon after the Fed elected to hold rates steady during its meeting this week.

For the past six months, the Fed has kept rates on pause, citing a need for caution. Two days after Fed Chair Jerome Powell made the expected announcement that rates would stay unchanged, Fed Governor Christopher Waller discussed what might be next.

"I think we are in the position that, the [economic] data's good: GDP growth is going to be near our long-run target in the first half of this year, unemployment's at our long-run target, inflation's running very close to target," Waller explained during a June 20 interview with CNBC. 

If inflation spikes in response to tariffs, Waller believes it would be "a one-off level effect" — and the Fed could always put interest rates back on pause. "But I think we're in a good spot right now for talking about bringing the rate down," he said.

When the Fed does decide to cut rates — which could be soon, he suggested — Waller predicts the process will start slowly "to make sure there's no big surprises."

"I've labeled these 'good news rate cuts' when, if inflation comes down to target, we can actually bring rates down," Waller said. "I think we're in that position that we could do this as early as July."

FHFA director says delaying cuts is 'reckless,' calls on Powell to resign

Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte criticized the Fed's decision to keep rates unchanged, declaring in June 19 posts on X that there "is no legitimate factual basis to keep rates high" and that it "is so totally reckless to keep rates where they are at."

Pulte, who has previously demanded lower rates, also called for Powell's resignation in a series of posts on the social media platform, a demand he reiterated during a June 20 interview with Fox News. Inflation has been "crushed" under Trump, Pulte said, but Powell "still has interest rates way too high, and they're not reflective of the great work that President Trump has done."

"Fed Chair Jay Powell either needs to lower the rates, or he needs to resign," Pulte added.

Trump similarly criticized the June 18 decision, calling Powell "the WORST" in a June 18 post on Truth Social. The president also suggested he could take over for Powell, according to The Hill, telling reporters, "I'd do a much better job than these people."

Selling federal land for housing?

U.S. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who chairs the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, recently updated draft legislation that proposes selling off some Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service land in 11 Western states "for housing."

The legislation could become part of Trump's proposed One Big Beautiful Bill Act. It would not include federally protected land, such as national monuments, historic sites, National Park Systems land and other national recreation areas.

Several environmental conservation groups have pushed back on the proposal, including The Wilderness Society, which estimates that over 250 million acres would be eligible, and between 2 and 3 million acres of federal land would be sold off.

Lee defended the legislation during an interview this week with Glenn Beck, suggesting it could be a way to help younger Americans facing housing affordability challenges.

"What we're dealing with is an entire generation of Americans that'll fail to launch if we can't bring the train of homeownership back within reach," Lee said.

"Meanwhile, the federal government owns 640 million acres of land — nearly a third of all land in the United States," he continued. "Disposing of a fraction of 1% of that so that the next generation can afford a home is a commonsense solution to a national problem."

MBA throws support behind new credit report model

After Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO)'s fee increase late last year, mortgage industry leaders sounded the alarm about how the lack of market competition is impacting consumers. Pulte, who said this spring that he is "Extremely disappointed" by FICO's cost increases, has suggested he will look into possible changes to credit report models — and the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is onboard.

In a June 13 blog post, MBA President and CEO Robert Broeksmit wrote that the organization has "consistently advocated for competition in the credit reporting and score space" and has "urged policymakers to examine the drivers of recent steep price increases for these services to ensure transparency and to protect consumers from unnecessarily paying higher mortgage closing costs."

Government loans and those backed by government-sponsored enterprises currently require three credit reports for approval — a requirement that Broeksmit said has created an anticompetitive market. "There has to be a better way," he wrote, suggesting that using a single credit report model instead "would lead to both higher-quality services and lower costs."