Luke Pettit, Senator Hagerty, and Trump's Housing Executive Order — The Recap and Release Pieces Are in Place

On March 13, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order titled Removing Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Home Construction. Senator Bill Hagerty applauded the action on X and announced he would introduce legislation to support the removal of regulatory barriers to new construction. "The dream of homeownership," Hagerty wrote, "begins with the freedom to build."

This matters more than people realize.

The Luke Pettit Connection

Full profile: Luke J.A. Pettit — Treasury Gatekeeper for Fannie & Freddie

Luke Pettit spent over three years as Senior Policy Advisor to Senator Hagerty on the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. He is a former Federal Reserve economist (Division of Monetary Affairs and the San Francisco Fed), a former Bridgewater Associates analyst, and holds degrees from Penn, the London School of Economics, and Johns Hopkins.

In February 2025, Trump nominated Pettit as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Institutions. At his confirmation hearing on March 27, 2025, Hagerty personally introduced him to the committee, calling him "indispensable" and praising his "humility and selfless dedication." The Senate confirmed him 69-30 — strong bipartisan support, with 17 Democrats voting yes.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent initially elevated Pettit to Acting Under Secretary of Domestic Finance — the senior Treasury position overseeing the Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Jonathan McKernan has since been confirmed as Under Secretary of Domestic Finance. Pettit now serves as Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions — the role that shapes policy around banks, government-sponsored enterprises, and the broader financial system.

The point is the same: Hagerty's protege — the person who spent three years absorbing Hagerty's pro-recap-and-release worldview on the Senate Banking Committee — is at Treasury shaping financial institution policy, including GSE policy. And the Under Secretary he worked alongside during his acting tenure, McKernan, is now the confirmed official overseeing the PSPAs.

The Executive Order

Trump's March 13 EO directs:

• The EPA and Army Corps of Engineers to streamline stormwater, wetlands, and water permitting for housing construction
• The Secretary of Commerce, HUD, Transportation, and the FHFA Director to eliminate unduly burdensome rules constraining residential development
• The Secretary of Agriculture, HUD, Energy, and FHFA to reform or eliminate costly energy-efficiency and alternative-energy requirements on housing
• HUD to develop regulatory best practices for state and local governments — streamlined permitting, reduced mandates, manufactured housing flexibility, removal of arbitrary growth boundaries
• Treasury and HUD to align Opportunity Zone incentives with single-family home construction

A second executive order signed the same day — Promoting Access to Mortgage Credit — directs federal regulators to revise mortgage lending, servicing, and capital rules to expand credit access, especially for community banks and smaller lenders.

And back in January 2026, Trump directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities to drive down borrowing costs.

The Pieces on the Board

Let me lay out what's happening:

1. FHFA Director Bill Pulte told Fox Business the GSEs could stage a 2.5-5% secondary equity offering as an initial public offering. He's actively working on it.

2. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said publicly that moving toward Fannie and Freddie eventually leaving conservatorship is a goal of the administration.

3. Luke Pettit — shaped by Hagerty's pro-privatization, pro-recap-and-release worldview — is now Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions at Treasury, shaping policy around banks and GSEs. Jonathan McKernan is the confirmed Under Secretary of Domestic Finance who oversees the PSPAs.

4. Senator Hagerty is introducing legislation to support the removal of regulatory barriers to housing construction — creating the legislative environment for privatization.

5. Trump's executive orders direct every relevant federal agency to clear the path for housing affordability and expanded mortgage credit.

6. Hagerty's 2024 Senate Banking Committee testimony laid it all out: the quickest way to end the conservatorships is to raise private capital, just as bailed-out banks did after 2008. That would generate a $100B+ windfall for taxpayers that could immediately expand the country's housing supply and support affordable housing.

These are not random moves. This is coordinated.

Recap and Release

I've written eight books about Fanniegate. Book 8 — Victory Lap: Fanniegate Recap and Release — was published because the endgame felt close. I wrote the words "recap and release" because I believed we would see the government recapitalize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and release them from conservatorship.

The man who absorbed Hagerty's vision on GSE reform for three years is now at Treasury shaping financial institution and GSE policy. The President is signing executive orders to clear the regulatory path. The FHFA Director is talking about IPO mechanics. The Treasury Secretary is on record.

I don't know when. But the people who need to be in the right seats are in the right seats.

The dream of homeownership begins with the freedom to build. And the freedom to build begins with ending a conservatorship that has lasted 18 years.

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Related: Senator Hagerty | Fanniegate Headquarters | Victory Lap: Recap and Release | Preferred Stocks