Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

dalton99a

(81,065 posts)
Fri Jan 11, 2019, 07:18 PM Jan 2019

Mnuchin gives shutdown relief to mortgage industry

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/could-you-make-these-guys-essential-mortgage-industry-gets-shutdown-relief-after-appeal-to-senior-treasury-officials/2019/01/11/9071e9d8-152c-11e9-90a8-136fa44b80ba_story.html

‘Could you make these guys essential?’: Mortgage industry gets shutdown relief after appeal to senior Treasury officials
By Lisa Rein and Jeff Stein
January 11 at 5:30 PM

After an intense lobbying campaign by the mortgage industry, the Treasury Department this week restarted a program that had been sidelined by the partial government shutdown, allowing hundreds of Internal Revenue Service clerks to collect paychecks as they process forms vital to the lending industry.

The hasty intervention to restore the IRS’s income verification service by drawing on revenue from fees — even as 800,000 federal employees across the country are going without their salaries — has intensified questions about the Trump administration’s un­or­tho­dox efforts to bring certain government functions back online to contain the shutdown’s impacts.

Critics, including many former IRS officials, described the move as an act of favoritism to ease the burden on a powerful industry.

“It seems crazy to me that a powerful bank or lobby gets to bring their people back to do their work,” said Marvin Friedlander, who served as a senior IRS official in the mid-2000s. “How about the normal slob who can’t even pay his rent?”

Administration officials said they are simply seeking to minimize the harm caused to the public by the budget standoff, which on Saturday will become the longest in modern U.S. history.

Because of the shutdown, the IRS was unable to process a key form that lenders use to confirm borrowers’ incomes before they can grant home loans — a roadblock that threatened to bring the mortgage industry to a halt.

5 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Mnuchin gives shutdown relief to mortgage industry (Original Post) dalton99a Jan 2019 OP
They are developing a definition of "the government" which is all the services that enough Jan 2019 #1
Helping bankers, not people C_U_L8R Jan 2019 #2
what am i missing here? Takket Jan 2019 #3
I think they're saying that people who qualify for mortgages aren't getting them FakeNoose Jan 2019 #5
Kinda like having a SHUTDOWN but one according to RUMP rules huh? bluestarone Jan 2019 #4

enough

(13,235 posts)
1. They are developing a definition of "the government" which is all the services that
Fri Jan 11, 2019, 07:21 PM
Jan 2019

facilitate business/money and nothing that helps ordinary people.

It’s what they have been working for for decades.

Takket

(21,424 posts)
3. what am i missing here?
Fri Jan 11, 2019, 07:27 PM
Jan 2019

"the IRS was unable to process a key form that lenders use to confirm borrowers’ incomes before they can grant home loans"

So, isn't this helping John and Jane Doe who are trying to buy homes but can't because their lender cannot process their loan? Why is this bad? Sure it helps the bank because they grant a loan and begin collecting interest but isn't it helping middle class families that want to buy homes?

FakeNoose

(32,340 posts)
5. I think they're saying that people who qualify for mortgages aren't getting them
Fri Jan 11, 2019, 07:43 PM
Jan 2019

... because the FannyMae services being shutdown. OK I know there's no FannyMae any more but some other federal agency took its place. That got shut down and people were caught with nowhere to go, banks not knowing how long this is gonna last. If you gave your last $10,000 as down-money and now you can't get the house you want, what would you do? This shutdown really SUCKS for a lot of people who have limited resources. As a homeowner, I can relate.

bluestarone

(16,720 posts)
4. Kinda like having a SHUTDOWN but one according to RUMP rules huh?
Fri Jan 11, 2019, 07:35 PM
Jan 2019

Wa Wa Wa i want a shutdown MY WAY. Wa Wa

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Mnuchin gives shutdown re...