NEWS: Senator Blunt Rochester Demands Answers and Accountability from Secretary Bessent on Housing Costs

Click here to watch Senator Blunt Rochester's full remarks and exchange with Secretary Bessent.

Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, today participated in a hearing with Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. Senator Blunt Rochester pressed Secretary Bessent for answers and clarity on housing costs.

Senator Blunt Rochester has been a leader in addressing our nation's housing affordability crisis. In September, she introduced "The New Way Home Agenda: A Federal Framework to Address America's Housing Crisis," her comprehensive legislative agenda to lower the cost of housing in Delaware and across the nation. In October, the Senate passed the ROAD to Housing Act, a landmark bipartisan housing package that contained three of Senator Blunt Rochester's bills and would spur the development of housing and bring down costs across the nation.

Senator Blunt Rochester's full remarks and exchange with Secretary Bessent can be found here. Key excerpts are below:

On Risks in the Housing Market

Senator Blunt Rochester: "Mr. Secretary, in your testimony you talked about avoiding, 'regulation by reflex and focusing on growth instead of reacting to every potential risk.' You say FSOC is, 'Tuning out the white noise to concentrate on the issues that matter most.'

"From my constituent calls and emails and conversations, I know for most families, they don't experience economic policy as white noise. They experience it through higher rent, higher medical bills, higher grocery prices and just worrying that the next bill or price increase will push them over the edge, and it's why the Financial Stability Oversight Council's job is so important and why it can't wait until markets break. Its job is to spot problems early before families pay the price.

"Housing-related risks have been showing up for decades. On this committee, we've worked on the ROAD to Housing [Act] in a bipartisan way, and my first policy agenda actually as a Senator was focused on housing. So today, I want to understand what Treasury has actually done with these warnings. Secretary Bessent, in 2024, FSOC issued a report warning of weaknesses in non-bank mortgage services, companies that now handle most U.S. mortgages. Last year on January 31, 2025, GAO also warned that trouble at these firms could disrupt federally backed mortgage markets.

"So, in light of these warnings by FSOC and GAO, what has Treasury done in response to address the risks in the housing market?"

Secretary Bessent: "Well, that - that was the Yellen Treasury, and they said that everything was a risk. Senator, that's why we are more focused. But we are very focused on the mortgage market through Fannie and Freddie and through the non-agency actors."

Senator Blunt Rochester: "So is Treasury's position that they, that this was overstated, this risk was overstated or?"

Secretary Bessent: "As I said in my statement, if everything is a risk, nothing is a risk."

Senator Blunt Rochester: "But I'm specifically asking on the issue of housing do you…"

Secretary Bessent: "Yes, I believe, and again, part of housing is being able to have tight spreads in the mortgage market. And we're at multi year lows in the spreads versus treasuries, which tells me the mortgage market's very healthy. And we had the lowest mortgage rate in the past three years in January."

Senator Blunt Rochester: "OK, so the mortgage, you're saying it's healthy. I know foreclosures are up 21 percent. Mortgage delinquencies are a four-year high. I know all of that…"

On How the Economy is Impacting Americans

Senator Blunt Rochester: "I would hope there is a plan because I know usually if you set up a group, there's a mission for the working group, there's a plan, a set of expectations. So, look forward to hearing from you on that. You mentioned in your testimony parallel prosperity, and you mentioned Main Street and Wall Street. If you were to rate how Wall Street is doing on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being it's doing well, and Main Street on a scale of 1 to 10, could you - what would you rate them?"

Secretary Bessent: "Well, I'm not going to speculate, but I will tell you, the Wall Street Journal, not the Main Street Journal, criticized me for being a populist on my advocacy of Main Street. And look, Main Street got killed during the Biden administration. Wall Street did not. And we were - we were trying to level…"

Senator Blunt Rochester: "So, I only have 10 seconds."

Secretary Bessent: "We were trying to level it out…"

Senator Blunt Rochester: "In my 10 seconds, I just want to say two things. Number one, this is now your watch. So, I know there's been a lot of bringing up the Biden administration. This is now your watch, a year later. And number two, families are truly hurting in this very present moment. So, I look forward to working with you and finding out about, particularly housing, because it's one of the number one issues in this country, across the dais."

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Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester represents Delaware in the United States Senate where she serves on the Committees on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; Commerce, Science, and Transportation; Environment and Public Works; and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.