U.S. Government Accountability Office

GAO is Congress’ nonpartisan watchdog, tasked with auditing federal programs, evaluating agency performance and investigating potential misuse of public funds or authority. - Conducting investigation into FHFA Director Bill Pulte

In early 2025, President Donald Trump installed housing heir Bill Pulte as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the regulator overseeing Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and more than $8.5 trillion in U.S. mortgage credit. Within months, Pulte began using access to mortgage data to publicly accuse several high-profile Democrats — New York Attorney General Letitia James, Senator Adam Schiff, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and Congressman Eric Swalwell — of mortgage fraud, referring them to the Justice Department amid concerns of political retribution.

Updated Feb 5

GAO keeps documenting the same problem: critical ATC systems are aging faster than replacement plans. - Warning beacon: aging systems, slow modernization timelines, unmanaged risk

The FAA is no longer talking about “modernization” like it’s a distant science project. In a House hearing, Administrator Bryan Bedford said the agency will commit $6 billion by the end of 2025 to upgrade ATC telecom networks and radar surveillance—aiming to deploy by the end of 2028.

Updated Dec 16, 2025

An independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress, often called the congressional watchdog. - Provided legal interpretation that guidance was a ‘rule’ under CRA

In March 2013, U.S. bank regulators issued joint supervisory guidance on leveraged lending to prevent a return of pre-2008-style underwriting excesses, with examiners informally anchoring scrutiny around a roughly six-times-EBITDA leverage benchmark. Over the next decade, banks’ pullback helped shift riskier deal finance toward private-credit funds, CLOs, and other nonbanks—expanding an opaque “shadow banking” ecosystem even as regulators maintained the guidance was supervisory, not a binding rule.

Updated Dec 11, 2025