By Michael Stubel

January 17, 2012

Throughout the week, the BPC Housing Commission will highlight news articles that address critical developments in housing policy. Any views expressed in the content posted on this forum do not necessarily represent the views of the Commission, its co-chairs or the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Senate Republicans Criticize Fed on Housing Advocacy

By Alan Zibel
The Wall Street Journal

"Top Federal Reserve officials came under fire on Capitol Hill on Tuesday as Republicans criticized the central bank for advocating more steps to aid the battered U.S. housing market. In a letter sent to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R., Utah) criticized a paper published by the Fed last week that called for more action to stabilize the troubled sector of the economy. The paper, an unusual step for the Fed, came as officials at the central bank have worried that millions of Americans can’t refinance their home loans and take advantage of low interest rates engineered by the central bank. However, Hatch argued that the Fed shouldn’t move so aggressively into housing policy. Publishing a paper and advocating policy positions on housing oversteps the central bank’s mandates of keeping unemployment and inflation low, wrote Hatch, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee." Read more here.