Housing For The 21st Century: What Passed, What’s Next, And Why It Matters

A “very partial” shutdown sounds harmless until you realize it sits inside DHS, home to FEMA, and intersects with disaster timelines, loan pipelines, and homeowner resilience. We sat down with Annmarie Conboy-DePasquale, Senior Policy Advisor from Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, to open the hood on what’s actually paused, what keeps running, and how this narrow shutdown can still nudge housing markets, travel, and the broader sense of stability that drives buyer sentiment and investor appetite.

From there, we take you inside Capitol Hill’s housing push. The House passed Housing for the 21st Century on a suspension vote, a strong bipartisan signal, while the Senate lines up the Road to Housing Act. Both packages aim to increase supply, streamline environmental reviews for residential projects, and modernize manufactured housing rules, but the House version layers in financial-institution provisions that the Senate bill doesn’t include. We walk through realistic paths forward: the Senate taking up the House bill, a true compromise hammered out by committee leaders, or a strategic hitch to the NDAA to secure floor time and momentum. Each option has different risks for scope, speed, and the coalition needed to get across the finish line.

We also connect policy dots that affect day-to-day lending. The administration’s cues to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on MBS purchases target liquidity when rates and affordability squeeze buyers. Talk of curbing bulk single-family acquisitions by large investors aims at addressing inventory pressures. Meanwhile, FEMA’s essential operations during a shutdown still warrant contingency planning for lenders and servicers in disaster‑prone areas. Add in leadership shifts at NCUA and a Senate bottleneck on confirmations, and you get a clear view of how regulatory tone could evolve even before new statutes land.

You’ll come away with a grounded view of what the DHS-only shutdown changes (and what it doesn’t), a clean comparison of the two major housing bills, and a practical watchlist for credit union mortgage teams navigating election‑year policy churn. If this helped cut through the noise, subscribe, share it with a colleague, and leave a quick review to tell us which housing provision you want passed first.

Transcript

30 Second Intro

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Acuma, its board of directors, its management staff, or its members. The podcast discussion presented is conversational in nature and for general information only.

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SPEAKER_03 0:14

This is Acuma's on Play Podcast. On today's episode, we'll dive into a very partial shutdown and get an update on the housing for the 21st century. A series focused on sharing the stories of people who are making a positive impact in the credit unit mortgages industry. I'm your host, Peter Benjamin. You know, a few weeks ago, I sat down with Anne Marie Comboy, senior policy advisor with Brownseed. You know, as always, she gave us this amazing update on the things happening in and around DC. And as I mentioned in my my small little teaser, you know, we we dove into the partial shutdown and also housing of the 21st century, which, you know, in my personal opinion is one of the more fascinating you know bills that are that could potentially come be coming out of DC. So you know, we're gonna get to that episode in just a quick second. Um, but as always, gotta bring Justin in. Justin Hawk, how are you doing? Please tell us what is the latest and greatest happening over at Acuma? I'm good, Peter. How are you? Hey man, you know, I'm I'm gonna say that I'm tired. Um, but you know, I'm I'm living the dream.

SPEAKER_02 1:42

We need to come up with an acronym for tired that's like super positive, so that way it doesn't all like when people hear, I'm tired, it's like, you know, uh like we need we need to find that tired acronym so that way when we're like we're tired, we remember like, yeah, you know, like well, we're we're making donuts. There we go. I love that. Donuts are delicious. I'm sorry, any donuts are delicious. Anyways, we're wrapping up our St. Louis uh summit right now as we speak. Um, it has been a fantastic event. And I thought Dallas was awesome. Man, St. Louis though, that arch. I mean, that was mesmerizing.

SPEAKER_03 2:23

I I'm a little upset they did not let me ride the Clyde sale. I kept asking, but they wouldn't let me ride the Clyde Sail.

SPEAKER_02 2:30

I know, and there was no hokey pokey going on. Like, I don't I don't know what happened here. Like, we didn't get to see the dancing we we talked about a couple weeks ago.

SPEAKER_03 2:37

You know, so you know, as a side note, you know, it it's you know, I've been to uh the St. Louis a handful of times. Um, you know, we actually, you know, the family and I just stopped by here or St. Louis, you know, last summer and you know, kind of did the whole arch thing and and the national park stuff. You know, uh, every time I'm here, you know, I I I kind of just fall in love with the city a little bit. Um there is you have to admit, there is some sort of charm to this city. Oh yeah. The St. Louis. Um Yeah, I know it gets a bad rap, but there is there is a charm. And if if you don't if you can't walk into Anheuser Busch, you know, that that beautiful property and just be blown away, one by the history, two, how beautiful it is. I'm I'm kinda you know, you you weren't the right attendee to come to this place. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

Um, no, like I mean it was so it was so beautiful. Like, I I can't wait to bring the family. Um, they've never actually been to St. Louis, so it will make the list of where do you want to go on vacation, kids? And not the this one. You and your baseball stadium. So I mean hey, um, well, the younger one who'll be all about it. You already know that. Um well, other than that, uh two weeks from now, we're gonna be heading over to Baltimore, Maryland for our final summit of the year. Um, so if you haven't made it out to a summit, those are free for credit ENAQ so members. Um come out, see us. Uh, it's a great event, great content, great education, great networking. There's a great experience. This time we're going to Guinness Open Gate Baltimore. So that will be really exciting. Uh have you been? But I keep I keep have I asked you this. I have been. No, I have not been.

SPEAKER_03 4:21

I've I've uh driven to Baltimore a few times uh for baseball, but you know, that's it is like this this hidden oasis in you know the the middle, I'm not gonna say middle of Baltimore because it's on the outskirts, but this hidden oasis, it is this beautiful facilities. It's like it's an old Seagrum, was it Seagrum's a gin, right? Um Seagrum uh factory, distillery, distribution center. Like it dates back to like the night in the early 1900s. Um I mean it it's uh I know it's the allure of the East Coast, right? Yeah, that that history. You can't get that anywhere. No, no, it it's it's a beautiful property. I look forward to it. I hope I all I hope is in knock on wood, you know, we have good weather because I think part of the the amazing stuff there is they had this they have like this I wanna call it a lawn, but it's it's like this this garden area that's roughly the size of two football fields that has like cornholes and like ladder balls and like botchy. Um so it'd be just awesome for with good weather to be out there with with all of our the attendees. Yeah, I mean we're gonna see how many people we can throw bowl balls.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

Seriously. I'll be doing it. Um and then one month from now, we're also gonna be heading to San Diego for our Focal Point workshop. Uh registration is still open. There's still plenty of time to get registered for that. And in case you haven't missed it, or in case you did miss it, not having, in case you did miss it, annual registration is officially open. So that means come out, see us. We can't wait to see you. We're gonna be in Las Vegas this year at the Fontainebleau Hotel uh in Las Vegas. It is a beautiful property. Um, team uh we all went and saw it recently.

SPEAKER_03 6:15

Oh my gosh, it's breathtaking. Um I I know I know you don't like it, but I love not this portion of it. I just love the way it smells. I hate the way it smells. I hate the way it's all the hotels and make the smell. It's still in like yeah, but this one doesn't smell like smoke.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

This one doesn't smoke. No, it doesn't. It is a smoke-free property, so that is nice, but um yeah, it it's that that fresh oxygen, man, it's so so intense.

SPEAKER_03 6:45

And when you say smoke-free, like it you don't you can smoke in there, you just you don't walk in and get like this burst of designated as areas.

SPEAKER_02 6:56

Yeah. So like it's smoke-free-esque, I should say. Um, and then uh after that, outside of our uh in-person events, we have our um marketing network coming up. So be sure to check this out for that. Uh, that would be an exciting time. Uh, me and the other uh leads will be excited to share our insights with you on things that we have going on. Um and then we have our young professional network meeting happening shortly thereafter. So anything's going on uh for all these things and uh to get registered, head over to the Acima website.

SPEAKER_03 7:35

I know. We just think about it. Uh two events now, three more to go. Years almost over. I hate to say it.

SPEAKER_02 7:43

Um I know, like when it comes to the planning, we don't I always joked with people that you know, like once I get the website built and I'm marketing it, and I it's like, man, was it over? Like, did I did I see it? Because I spend so much time seeing it before I get there. So by the time it gets here, I'm like, oh, it's everything I thought it was going to.

SPEAKER_03 8:03

Hands down, hands down. Well, Justin, thank you very much for the update. Uh, as always, appreciate you. Of course, thank you. Well, anyways, yeah, it's about time that we we transitioned to the episode again. You know, this was recorded a few weeks ago, and and as always, Anne Marie does an amazing job. Um and and really just to kind of sign out, hope you enjoy it. Be one, my friends. Today I am joined by our resident expert, Amory Comboy, senior policy advisor with Brownsteen. AM, how are you doing today? Oh, by the way, congratulations on the promotion.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Oh, thank you. I appreciate it. Of course. I am doing very well because as we're recording this, it's the middle of the Winter Olympics, and I am a massive fan of the Olympics. So I love thinking about policy all day and then going home and watching the primetime Olympic coverage every night. So nothing better than Olympic Games.

SPEAKER_03 9:05

So I I've been really bad at I know we're off topic, but I've been really bad at watching the Olympics this year. It's just, you know, the schedule's been busy, you know, kids' sports are picking up uh pretty heavily, actually, almost like four days a week. And so I haven't really watched the Olympics, with the exception to watching in two different separate occasions watching Colin Joes from SNL go down the bobsled, uh, which was hilarious. I saw that.

SPEAKER_01 9:37

I I truly think he feared for his life.

SPEAKER_03 9:39

Oh, he did that experience. And I also watched Jason Kelsey go down the bobsled as well. So besides those two, you know, fun little clips from the Olympics, I haven't watched anything. And I feel bad. Uh and on, you know, as a kid who grew up, I feel like the Olympics were were were different when we were kids, right? Several, several years ago. Um, I I used to love the Olympics, especially the winter Olympics. I just I've fallen off. Fallen off. Anyways, we're not here to talk about my my my childhood issues and how they've turned into my my adult life problems. Um seriously, yeah. Let's not go into my parents at all. Anyways, um let's uh we have a lot to go over today. You know, some of these are I'm gonna say updates from conversations we've been having, uh, whereas others are some new things that have recently popped up from the hill. So, you know, and where do you want to start? Uh uh, you know, dealer's choice, um, fireway.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Sure. So I think as we're recording this, one of the things that's top of mind in the news is that we are once again in a partial government shutdown, but it's a very partial one, which is kind of its own interesting situation. Uh hopefully it'll be resolved by the time this hits listeners' ears, but you never know for sure with Congress. But it's only the Department of Homeland Security that is impacted by the current shutdown. In a very impressive feat, congressional appropriators got all 11 other annual funding bills done through a series of bills in December, January. So that includes funding for the Department of Housing Urban Development. A number of the independently funded entities are kind of set up outside of the appropriations process or largely outside of the appropriations process. So for those we think about CFPB, NCUA, FHFA, so they're kind of insulated from shutdowns generally, though they can sometimes take steps to uh slow their operations depending on what's going on with the larger shutdown. But because this one is so narrow, really the impacts are are fairly contained and negotiations seem to be progressing between Democrats and the White House, at least in it seems today in good faith. So we'll see how that plays out. But the good news is that aside from the the very long government shutdown in the fall, this was overall a successful appropriation season, and they pretty much got all the bills done, except for this one that's outstanding.

SPEAKER_03 12:22

Yeah, so unlike you know, past shutdowns, I feel like I have not paid close attention to this one. Probably because of the fact that this it is such a small, I won't say small, it's it is a shutdown all the same, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:40

Um but a relatively small portion of the government.

SPEAKER_03 12:45

But you know, it it it's was this always the plan? I hate to say structuring it, that this is always the plan, right? For just a small government shutdown or the partial shutdown.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

I think this situation changed very rapidly a few weeks ago. Uh in January, they were on course to pass all the remaining funding bills. DHS was part of a package that ultimately did become law, but there were there was a another um ice-involved shooting in Minnesota that derailed the the progress that had been made on that front. And there were calls from from Democrats and from some Republicans for reforms to DHS that were not presently included in the annual funding bill. And so that's when it was cracked off from the package that it was initially a part of. There was a very brief, very, very brief shutdown when that kind of splintering off was happening. But shutdowns that are, you know, a few days or less don't really have a substantial impact on government operations. If if the administration knows that there is a funding deal coming, sometimes they can avert the real impacts of the shutdown because shutdown won't really set in. There is a resolution coming. So that's kind of where things derailed for DHS in January.

SPEAKER_03 14:11

Yeah, so uh if you don't know this, and you know that that's fine. But you know, maybe you know, the you know, the every single one of you geniuses over at Brown Stand, I mean that in the most way possible. You guys are most certainly a lot smarter than I am. Has there been an analysis on how I don't want to say this shutdown, but how a partial shutdown in general has the potential to impact housing or even just the economy in general? Yes, this is a small portion of the government, it's really just impacting DHS, but there's uh I feel like there still has to be an overall impact to the economy. It is are there any type of studies that related to this or or has there been some type of analysis that you guys have done?

SPEAKER_01 15:03

Um Yeah, I think there's definitely analysis done on the bigger and longer shutdowns. We know the shutdown in the fall was had a notable impact on the economy. I think depending on who you talk to, there might be different views on what the actual impact was, but there are certainly studies done, particularly on the longer shutdowns, and that was the longest shutdown we've ever had. I I think research into this very narrow shutdown will probably focus more on the political dynamics or impacts on travel either across ports of entry into the United States or within the US domestically, given TSA's impactment, but it's certainly an area of research for political scientists.

SPEAKER_03 15:50

So, you know, in this case, obviously, it it's not so much less. So unlike the last shutdown was look, which as you said was the longest in history. Um if I remember correctly, the the the second largest was the the shutdown that occurred during the first term of of the administration, correct?

SPEAKER_01 16:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 16:12

Um but I I I digress. There's there's really no, I mean, I'm not gonna say there's no potential, but there's always a potential. But right now, the big concern is not so much of its impact on housing like the last shutdown, because there was an impact on housing. Um this is more so general commerce and tourism and yeah, I'll just go with that, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:40

I think Yeah, some national security implications. And then I think the piece that's probably most impactful for homeowners or folks looking to own a home is that FEMA sits within the Department of Homeland Security. So in the event that you are somewhere that is impacted by a natural disaster while the shutdown goes on, FEMA's response can be impacted. There are, it's certainly not a full shutdown of FEMA. Um, they have the ability to designate employees as essential, but that is one consideration to keep in mind while this plays out.

SPEAKER_03 17:12

That's a very good call. Like, just out of curiosity, is there an end in sight? You know, here we are, as you mentioned, you know, the the Winter Olympics are are currently going on. We we've obviously timestamped this episode, but you know, let's say I have to speak in that this partial shutdown as it relates to DHS does go into hurricane season. And let's be honest, hurricane season isn't that far away, right? And and if you think and you think about the spring, even the spring line spring tornadoes. Um so in those cases where you could have these types of severe natural disasters, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, you name it, they they could still very well get the assistance that they need. It's just more so issuing new flood policies might be the problem, right?

SPEAKER_01 18:13

So flood insurance is kind of a separate issue from the way that FEMA is impacted, but I think in terms of how they they they hold hands together.

SPEAKER_03 18:26

That's the tough part.

SPEAKER_01 18:29

Um I think you know, historically there have been efforts made to address that issue when shutdowns do drag on, um, given how important the National Flood Insurance Program is in the United States, but it always kind of remains to be seen. I think in terms of the overall way that this gets resolved, there's certainly there is interest in both sides on getting it done. I think a lot of it depends on what happens out in the real world over the next days and weeks, frankly. I think there's a lot of media attention on the actions of ICE right now and you know, whether it's viewed through a positive or negative lens, it's a motivating factor for each side. And I think at the outset of this, there seemed to really be a landing zone. And it is a good sign today that they're kind of keeping the specifics of the negotiations under wraps. I think if they were out there slinging mud at each other, my odds of this being resolved quickly would be much lower. But depending what happens out in the real world, I think there there is a good chance that this ultimately gets resolved in the next week or two.

SPEAKER_03 19:52

And I know we're we're probably taking a little bit longer on on this topic than than what you originally intended, but do you and this is just for my own edification, is the speed at which this shutdown is resolved and the speed at which any other because obviously they're gonna have to pass a continuing resolution, right? Which is gonna go what for another three to six months, something like that.

SPEAKER_01 20:19

So there's right now the the Democrats are very opposed to putting a continuing resolution of current funding on the floor. They really want to vote on a revised full-year funding bill. So that's kind of one of the holdups is that I think initially there was a thought that another or at least multi-week continuing resolution for DHS funding would buy them time to figure out the next steps. But I think Democrats want to keep that pressure on the White House to negotiate. And part of that strategy for them right now is not allowing a short-term extension of the funding to go forward.

SPEAKER_03 21:01

So so that's that's excellent. Not so much excellent, excuse me. I'm not saying that's exciting news. I'm saying that that's an excellent point. You know, with with correct me if I'm wrong, but midterms are right around you know, the the corner. Is is that pretty much an attempt to get us or or position yourself in a positive manner because midterms are really close?

SPEAKER_01 21:29

I think midterms will color every political fight this year. I think they've been coloring things in recent months already, and that will only become a brighter and brighter spotlight the closer we get to November. And the midterms coming up can be a motivating factor to both get things done so that you have something to campaign on, but they can also be a chilling factor if you're a member thinking. Thinking that you're either going to have more or less power than you do right now next year, and that being a reference to the potential for the house to flip. So it certainly is going to have an impact on everything that happens this year.

SPEAKER_03 22:16

Okay. Okay. Well, thank you for for for that. Uh, I again spent a little bit more time on the shutdown than we intended. But so let's move on. Um, I I think you have an update on one of my favorite topics as of late. Um housing for the 21st century. Um, also known as depending on what if you want to go back, road to housing. Um so so walk us through what's happening with housing for the 21st century.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

Sure. And I think you make an important point, Peter, and the Road to Housing Act, it can easily be conflated or confused with the Housing for the 21st Century Act, which is the House bill, but the two are not identical. They do bear a number of similarities, but because the bills are not the same, one passing its respective chamber, it would still have to go on to the next chamber to be considered if, say, the House passed, which it did, the Housing for the 21st Century Act, and they did it by a very bipartisan vote passed on something called suspension of the rules, which is kind of the gold standard for getting a bill passed in the house. It means you have very broad bipartisan support. So I was I was gonna make an Olympic reference, but I'll hold myself back. Um so the Housing for the 21st Century Act is a distinct and separate bill from the Road to Housing Act, though they are both attempts to achieve the same goal, which is a major legislative package on housing policy. So they both have when you look at both bills, we're talking 40 plus pieces of legislation, over half of which have bipartisan support. Um, it there's things ranging from revising environmental review processes to expedite residential projects to uh making it easier for projects to be classified as manufactured housing. And a lot of the core pieces of the bill are similar. The House does have a second set of proposals that concern financial institutions. Those are absent from the Senate bill, the Road to Housing Act. So that's one piece where immediately the two sides will need to kind of resolve what the path forward will be there. The Senate technically the Road to Housing Act has received a vote on the Senate floor, but it did so as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. It was then later removed from the bill, was not enacted, largely because the House wanted to make its own stamp, which has been realized in the Housing for the 21st Century Act. So the Senate needs to have a standalone vote on the Road to Housing Act so that the bill is kind of on the same footing as the Housing for the 21st Century Act. So they both have passed committee, they both, excuse me, at that point, they both would have passed the floor in their respective chambers. And this kind of brings us to a classic congressional impasse where we have these two bipartisan bills, but they are not the same. And the leaders of the committees of jurisdiction, congressional leadership, will kind of need to figure out whether they're going to pick up one of the bills and run with that, which would only necessitate the other chamber voting on that bill, or whether they will pursue a type of compromise legislation. And then each chamber would need to vote on a compromise legislation. Another avenue is that a compromise version of these bills, potentially with a name that is kind of a mashup of both of these, or a completely new standalone name, could hid your ride on this year's NDAA. And that would be a viable path, largely because we know the Senate is supportive. And then now, if it were a compromise bill, you would have support from all four corners that you need to get sign off. So it's very important and very positive that the House version of the bill has now passed that chamber and the Senate looks like it's queuing up to have a floor vote on the Road to Housing Act. And then that takes us into the next stage of the conversation, which is which avenue will we pursue towards passage.

SPEAKER_03 26:54

So thank you for walking us through that. You know, this whole time when you start saying, you know, who knows what's going to be named, it could be a combination of both. I was thinking, well, what could they cleverly name it? Like housing on the road to the 21st.

SPEAKER_01 27:09

I don't really know, but unfortunately, it'll probably be something like Road to Housing for the 21st Century Act.

SPEAKER_03 27:15

Yeah, I know. I was trying to think of like we we need like another we need to go back to the times where they use like, you know, acronyms for names.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

Um well that's still very much alive, but I think you could pick an acronym and work backwards. There's gonna be some time here to figure it out.

SPEAKER_03 27:34

So uh hopefully they send out you know requests for you know public uh input.

SPEAKER_01 27:39

Um and we can back channel it for you, Pierre.

SPEAKER_03 27:42

Yeah, we can chime in on some names and you know some it has something have to be it has to be better than Trid. Um but we'll we'll think of something clever. Um like Roof. Yeah. Uh who we'll we'll we'll think of. We'll say something good. We'll we'll yeah, it'll be good. It'll be good. Anyways, I digress. What else we got?

SPEAKER_01 28:06

So I'm gonna look into my crystal ball here a little bit. And I love this. Those of you who are attending the St. Louis Acuma event, you'll have to stop by my colleague Leah Dempsey's panel to see what I got right or didn't. But as we sit here recording today, we're about a week out from the State of the Union, which is a big event in DC. And I mean that both in terms of its political importance and also in that every bar in DC has happy hour specials that extend for the State of the Union. Um, I think there's a fair bit of betting that goes on about what the president will talk about, but it is it is an exciting night, nonetheless. And the State of the Union, this is the first one of the president's second term. And you might say, this is his second year of his second term. Didn't he do this last year? And the answer would be no. The first year that a president is in office, the address that they give to Congress is just a joint address to Congress. It's not officially a State of the Union. And I think that has something to do with this person's just been inaugurated. They probably don't actually have a great sense of the State of the Union yet. But nonetheless, this will be his technically his first State of the Union of the second administration. And I feel confident that housing will be an important part of that address. I think going back to the point you made earlier, Peter, about midterms. The administration is thinking a lot right now about affordability and messaging that to the American people, what they feel they have done and what this Congress has done in terms of affordability. So I think looking ahead, I expect he will talk quite a bit about the legislative accomplishments that we've seen over the past year, the reconciliation bill. But more recently, we've seen the president proofing, tweeting, whatever you want to call it, quite a bit about housing policy. He a few weeks ago told Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to really up their mortgage-backed security purchases. He's really been talking a lot about restricting purchases of single-family homes by large institutional investors. That came up in a truth. It then was talked about at Davos. It then was a subject of an executive order. It's very possible that there will be another housing-focused executive order in the coming weeks. Sometimes the administration will time, and I mean that broadly, an administration will time things around the State of the Union to hit key points of the address that has been made. And this is a really important address for any president. It is an opportunity for them to speak directly to a large WAF of the American people. The fact that it's a midterm year kind of adds even more importance to it. I think a lot of the things that he talks about next week we'll be seeing echoed on the campaign trail across the country in the coming weeks and months. And it's also America 250. I should mention that. That will certainly come up during the address. And what uh I think the the word that we're hearing a lot is our triumphant, excuse me, triumphant American history.

SPEAKER_03 31:28

So have you heard of the the app Calchi?

SPEAKER_01 31:33

I feel like I it's familiar, but I can't call it up.

SPEAKER_03 31:37

Okay. So K-A-L-S-C-H I. Sorry. There's an I at the end. But you pretty much can, you know it tracks wagers on everything, you name it, you know, from you know, the color of the Gatorade at you know the Super Bowl to Ah, like a poly market. Yeah. And so I just so happened to pull up, you know, what will Trump say during the State of the Union? Um, some of my favorite things that he might say are drill baby drill.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

Oh wow. Um specific. I think he will say drill baby drill. I think American energy dominance will come up, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 32:19

UFC.

SPEAKER_01 32:21

Yep, the 4th of July fight. That's well, I'm sorry, it's not actually happening on the 4th anymore. It's I think it's in June to celebrate the president's birthday now.

SPEAKER_03 32:29

Discombobulator.

SPEAKER_01 32:32

What a word.

SPEAKER_03 32:35

Um, and what's another good one? Uh he's just gonna say the word hottest.

SPEAKER_01 32:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 32:44

So, and there are several others that I'm not gonna say uh on on the radio. Oh, windmill.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

Windmill.

SPEAKER_03 32:51

Windmill.

SPEAKER_01 32:52

Um the president also in years past, that President Trump in his first term and last year has really enjoyed having a high number of special guests at the speech. If anyone listening has been in the House chamber where the speech happens, it's actually not as big as you might think it is on television. The gallery, and by that, the second-level viewing area where the press sits and invited members of the public, it's not a huge area. It's very restricted in terms of who can actually attend the State of the Union. But the president really likes to have people in the room that he can kind of throw to for important policy points. So you might start a um a caution bet on how many people he will, how many special guests the president will have.

SPEAKER_03 33:40

Well, so there already is one on who will attend the State of the Union. Um Tiffany Trump is uh is a pretty pretty good bet right now. Um Nikki Minaj is also a pretty good bet, if you want to take that one.

SPEAKER_01 33:57

Um would not surprise me.

SPEAKER_03 33:59

She's been on Capitol Hill quite a bit, which is uh they're saying Elon Musk could come back um and be there. And what's another good one? Um see this this is what you don't like. They're saying Nancy Pelosi's gonna be there. Of course she's gonna be there, right?

SPEAKER_01 34:17

But Well, there is always a question of of whether or not she skits over members of the minority party will actually attend, because they don't all attend typically. You'll get like a bulk of them, but not everyone does show up. And oftentimes you'll see the minority party wear like one specific color. There have been years past where all of the uh female members of the U.S. House who are in the minority party have worn white or they all weren't purple. So there are ways to kind of demonstrate peacefully, and I know that is important to uh a lot of folks who do attend to respect the decorum of the event in the chamber. But it's certainly an interesting event. I think the president is a very can be a very um entertaining speaker, and he certainly has a lot of ground to cover this year.

SPEAKER_03 35:09

Okay. Uh oh, here's a good one. And obviously, if you're gonna bet that this person's gonna be there, you need to bet that the president's gonna say UFC.

SPEAKER_01 35:19

Um well, um, I know the president, well not the president, but RFK Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services, has been doing quite a few ads lately with Mike Tyson. So he's certainly a possible attendee this year.

SPEAKER_03 35:38

Who? He's not on the list.

SPEAKER_01 35:40

That's my prediction for a surprise guest.

SPEAKER_03 35:43

I think I can add it to the list. I'll look into that and I'll let you know.

unknown 35:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 35:49

If all of a sudden I I uh don't show up to the next podcast, you know why.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

Wow, maybe I should get on CalTe too.

SPEAKER_03 35:58

All right. And in the last few minutes that we have, is there one more point that you can get us?

SPEAKER_01 36:05

The another policy thing I wanted to say was for those of us tracking agency transitions, the chairman of the NCUA, Kyle Hoffman, was appointed to a public company accounting oversight board, PCAOB, kind of a mouthful, but it oversees public company auditors. He's gonna stay in his role as chair of NCUA until someone is nominated and confirmed to replace him, but it kind of signals he's he's getting ready to go. So we'll keep a close eye on potential successors and the process there.

SPEAKER_03 36:42

Well, one question on that uh before we come and start wrapping up. Um do you sense that there's or or have you heard or or or seen or or felt any sense of urgency when it comes to this NCUA board?

SPEAKER_01 37:04

I have not. I think it's definitely on the list of things that the administration wants to tackle, but I don't know, I don't think it's number one on the list.

SPEAKER_03 37:14

I mean, obviously it's not number one, but I mean, with with Hoppman pretty much accepting a new position, right? And us already being you know behind on on having a three-member board. And correct me if I'm wrong, uh the the charter says that it has to have three uh a three-person board from different parties, right?

SPEAKER_01 37:34

You've right, you can't have all three members of the board be at the same party.

SPEAKER_03 37:38

So we're already a little bit behind on on that. So it's almost like we well, now he's pretty much, you know, uh, you know, you know, I don't want to say a part-timer, but you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_01 37:49

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 37:49

Um I think short timer.

SPEAKER_01 37:52

Independent regulators generally have been lower down on the president's list of folks to nominate. We've seen that kind of across the board at a number of these independent regulators, especially as people's terms phase out over the past few months. I think the PCOB thing may potentially be kind of a forcing mechanism, but I think as long as Optiman is kind of sitting there, his term has expired. So there's there's certainly some.

SPEAKER_03 38:21

Last August, right? Last August.

SPEAKER_01 38:23

I think I think it was August. Uh so you know, we'll see when they actually end up nominating someone. It's also kind of a logjam in the Senate right now. Uh, one of the senators, Tom Tillis from North Carolina, has said that he will block consideration of nominees until another issue that he's focused on is resolved. And the Senate is structured as such that any one senator can really blockade. So the administration is continuing to nominate people, but they'll need to address that issue before they're able to really resume senior level nominations.

SPEAKER_03 39:07

Sounds good. Uh well, you know, we it's it we're we're at time. I know there's a few more things that we want to discuss, but obviously um we we can monitor and provide updates at uh in a future episode. But I have to ask, Ann, you you always come prepared with these little fun nuggets of information. Did you come prepared this time around?

Marker 02

SPEAKER_01 39:32

I did, Peter. I like I said at the outset, I really love the Olympic Games. And so my fun facts are related to the Olympics. And I have to say, for anyone who's not watching the coverage, I think it's certainly the only place in primetime that you can watch someone complete a truly stunning feat of athleticism, and then watch Stanley Tucci explain how Pesto was made, and then watch another feat of incredible athleticism in a completely different endeavor, and then watch Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg learn about opera in La Scala in Milan. And this is a real recap of a series of clips that I watched last night on NBC. So could not recommend it strongly enough. But my actual fun fact is that there's only been one U.S. Winter Olympian to ever serve in the U.S. Congress. His name was Wendell Anderson. He competed in the 1956 Winter Olympics and he won a silver medal as part of the U.S. hockey team that year. He was from Minnesota, so being in the Winter Games makes sense to me. There were a lot more Summer Olympians, so you'll have to have me back this summer so we can cover some of that.

SPEAKER_03 40:44

But say less.

SPEAKER_01 40:48

But that's my that's my closeout fact for this edition.

SPEAKER_03 40:52

I love it. Thank you very much. Well, AM, thank you so much for for spending some time with us. Really do appreciate everything that you and the rest of the Brown Saint team does for us and our members. Uh, it's good seeing you.

SPEAKER_01 41:04

It's always good to see you all. Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_03 41:07

Absolutely. And to all of you, we know your time is valuable. Thank you for tuning in to the latest episode of Acuma's On Point Podcast. We hope you enjoyed it. Until next time, be well, my friend.

SPEAKER_00 41:17

Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time at the Acuma on Point Podcast. If not already, be sure to subscribe and give us the five star rating. For more great episodes and information, be sure to visit us online at Acuma.org. And to get the latest updates, head over to our LinkedIn page.