White House considers cutting federal housing aid
As the White House prepares the president's budget for Congress, sources say it's looking to make deep cuts to federal housing programs, The New York Times reported.
If approved, the cuts would primarily focus on housing vouchers, including the Section 8 program that helps low-income tenants afford their rent for apartments, townhouses and single-family houses, those familiar with the matter said.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development's Housing Voucher Program, the federal government's major housing assistance program, currently serves more than 2.3 million Americans, according to the agency.
The administration has discussed implementing a more limited system of housing support that could see assistance programs cut or canceled completely, but the exact extent of the changes is unclear, sources told The Times. Details about the plan will be included in President Donald Trump's annual budget, expected on Capitol Hill in the coming weeks.
Federal judge says CFPB can't terminate employees — yet
After the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau notified roughly 1,500 of its 1,700 employees that their roles were terminated, a federal judge ordered a pause on the agency's actions.
It's a saga that started on Thursday, when nearly 90% of the agency's workforce received an email that their position had been terminated. Employees were given until Friday at 6 p.m., when they'd lose access to their work accounts.
But in a hearing on Friday morning, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson temporarily blocked the mass firings, saying the move might be in violation of previous court orders that created criteria for terminations, according to media reports.
The Trump administration has argued that the agency — created after the 2008 financial crisis to oversee financial products and services that American consumers use, including banks and digital payment platforms— has overstepped its authority in recent years. In a memo Wednesday, leadership at the agency told employees the organization was narrowing its focus, with a greater priority on banks and mortgage fraud.
Jackson is already considering a lawsuit filed by an employee union that's trying to preserve the agency. The judge scheduled a hearing for April 28 to hear testimony from officials involved in the attempted terminations.