The head of the agency overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac called on Congress to investigate Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
It is the latest escalation from Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, who has for weeks called on Powell to either cut the central bank’s benchmark interest rate or resign. This latest salvo, like the ones before it, came in a social media post and included an attached statement on FHFA letterhead.
“I am asking Congress to investigate Chairman Jerome Powell, his political bias, and his deceptive Senate testimony, which is enough to be removed ‘for cause,’” Pulte wrote in the statement.
Pulte honed in on Powell’s testimony to Congress regarding the controversial renovation of Federal Reserve offices as the reason he should be fired, alleging the head of the central bank lied about the specifics of the refurbishment plan, which Pulte said “stinks to high heaven.”
The allegation and call for an investigation was reported by the New York Post and HousingWire before Pulte posted it to his 3 million followers on X.
“Like this tweet if you think it’s time for Jerome Powell to resign,” Pulte said in a post Wednesday night that he later pinned to his profile.
It is so totally reckless to keep rates where they are at. Mortgage rates were 3% and went to 7%. This is crazy. This crushed affordability. Inflation is down. Mortgage rates, and interest rates, need to come down. Jerome Powell is doing a great injustice to this Country.
— Pulte (@pulte) June 19, 2025
The FHFA head has been a vocal critic of Fed policy, accusing Powell of hurting the housing market by taking too long to cut rates and implying the central bank chair was keeping rates at current levels for political reasons.
Pulte’s latest broadside comes after a post on June 18 in which he said Powell could “help so many more Americans” by cutting rates and that he should resign if he was unwilling to do so.
Pulte, a member of the family behind homebuilder PulteGroup, is echoing commentary from President Donald Trump. The president posted on his own social media platform Wednesday night that Powell should resign immediately, referring to the Fed chair by a Trump-bestowed nickname: “Too Late.”
The Federal Open Market Committee has resisted political pressure and held its benchmark rate flat across four consecutive bimonthly meetings. Powell and Fed officials argue that the labor market remains strong and the current rate is necessary to help tame inflation, which has long been running ahead of the Fed’s 2% target.
After the FOMC’s most recent meeting in June, Powell acknowledged for the first time at a Fed press conference that the president’s trade policy was causing the central bank to adjust its inflation outlook.
“There's the manufacturer, the exporter, the importer, the retailer and the consumer, and each one of those is going to be trying not to be the one to pay for the tariff,” Powell said. “But they will all pay together — or maybe one party will pay it all, but that process is very hard to predict.”
Powell’s term at the top of the Fed ends in May 2026. He has vowed to complete his stay atop the central bank, even if the White House tries to oust him.
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