50 Year Mortgages & Shady Shutdown Deals EXPLAINED

Written By Leeja Miller

Sources:

Transcript:

Hi welcome to Why, America? I’m Leeja Miller. The House of Representatives is set to vote on a bill to reopen the government tonight. Now that we’ve had time to read through the appropriations bills that those 8 Democrats defected over in the Senate, some line items are popping out as… questionable, at best. Also, what’s all this about 50 year mortgages?? And the Supreme Court weighs in on SNAP: when the fuck will SNAP benefits be reinstated for millions of Americans across the country? Today, I’m answering your frequently asked questions of the week to give some context behind the headlines that had you scratching your head and wondering WHY, AMERICA?? But first, a brief word on my partner for today’s video…

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Okay so if you need a full catch up on the whole government shutdown saga, my video from Monday talks about the 8 defectors and how fucking stupid this entire situation is. That bill has, since Monday, been approved by the Senate and now awaits a vote by the House. And yeah there are some shifty things in this bill. Lawmakers LOVE to shove random things into continuing resolutions and appropriations bills wherever possible. Reminder from Monday’s video, appropriations bills deal with discretionary funding of all sorts of government agencies. Which gives a lot of leeway for lawmakers to just pop in some new language about how government funds can or cannot be used. Specifically, the provision making headlines from these latest bills to pass the Senate and probably soon the house, comes from the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act of 2026. Remember how most things have been just kicked down the road until the end of January, but there were three full fiscal year appropriations bills that did pass the Senate? This is one of those three, because of course Congress would be very happy to make sure that funding for their salaries and personal security teams is set through the end of fiscal year 2026. Now this law isn’t particularly dense so I’ve included the PDF of the full law in the sources, which are linked in the description. It’s only 64 pages long which is but a blink of an eye in the land of lawmaking. And on page 52 of the law you will find the provision that is making the biggest headlines. It is titled Requiring Senate Notification for Disclosure of Senate Data–sounds innocuous enough. It updates an old law about what counts as Senate data to include electronic data like, I don’t know, texts and emails. It requires that any “provider” of electronic services to a Senator has to disclose to the office of the senator when their data has been requested by legal processes–so like when Verizon has been subpoenaed for the phone records of a Senator, for example, they would now be required by law to notify said Senator. And unless the Senator themselves is subject to a criminal investigation, the provider of their electronic systems must provide that notice to the Senator without delay no matter what any judge or law says to the contrary. And if any officer of the United States, say, for example, a special counsel hired to investigate the crimes of a former president, violates the terms of the law by attempting to get a court order to NOT inform the Senator that their data is being disclosed, that individual Senator has the right to sue the United States government for $500,000 for each violation, plus attorneys fees. And the officer of the US being sued can’t claim immunity–no no immunity is for cops and kings. And there’s a 5 year statute of limitations for Senators to bring this claim and, op, what do ya know, this change to the law is applicable to anything occurring on or after January 1st, 2022. It’s easy to gloss over but all of these changes taken together make it very clear that this provision was slipped into the law to appease 8 Republican senators who recently discovered that their phone records were accessed as part of the January 6th probe lead by friend of the channel and our channel Daddy Jack Smith, oh Jack it’s been a while.

And this is where I think it’s imperative to recognize the deeply important role that legal journalists play, because some sorry sucker had to sit down and read all 64 pages of this bill, get to the very end, read this language, understand what it was saying, and make the connections necessary to say oh holy shit here are the actual legal implications of this bill. Most of us are too busy to do that kind of digging, but this is deeply important and not a single Senator on the Democrat side who voted AGAINST the bill mentioned it despite having at least theoretically read the whole thing. It took a legal journalist to do the digging and break the story. And I often rely heavily on the work of legal journalists to provide my own legal analysis of stuff as it happens, which is why I try to cite all my sources in the description. Okay so what this means is that those 8 Senators, whose names are Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. Those 8 Senators found out last month that back in 2023 Jack Smith had subpoenaed their phone companies for their phone records on and around January 6th 2021 in order to see who they were calling around that time. The contents of those conversations was not sought or disclosed, just the call logs–who was calling whom, when, and for how long. Basically to see were these Senators colluding with the President or other actors on that day, what might they know, etc. And those Senators were PISSED, claiming it deeply invaded their privacy and was an abuse of power. And so they slipped this provision into this random appropriations bill to give themselves the power to personally enrich themselves from our tax payer dollars by being able to bring a retroactive lawsuit for half a million dollars each for each separate violation of their new law. And let me repeat just so we’re very clear–if they sue and they win, that $500,000 would come from the government of the United States, whose coffers are filled by our tax dollars, not to mention the cost of paying attorneys to do the litigation, and those individual Senators would be able to enrich themselves AND get their attorneys fees paid for if they won a lawsuit under this provision. All of this while they are OUR public servants, I’m sorry maybe this is lefty crazy of me but I think much like financial information we SHOULD get access to the phone records of our elected politicians. They work for US. WHO are you calling? If you want the power of holding elected office it absolutely should come with deep personal sacrifice, like that of having privacy to your phone and financial records, or I don’t know maybe not being able to trade in the stocks of the very companies you regulate. The ONLY way to keep politicians from being slimy little fucking rats is to make sure that with the power of the office comes deep personal sacrifice. As New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie recently said power should be a prison. [insert clip]. I think that should include disclosure of your personal phone records ESPECIALLY for something as consequential as an attempted coup on the government you serve. And ESPECIALLY given the fact that this new provision actually gives Senators MORE control and protection and privacy than average Americans. As representative Jamie Raskin put it in a statement on Tuesday quote ““The Senators may not like being treated like the rest of America, but these phone-record subpoenas and non-disclosure orders are routine in grand jury investigations at the state and federal level," he said. "No one has an absolute right to be notified that their call records have been subpoenaed, much less the right to a million bucks if it happens. This provision would not give any Americans other than U. S. Senators these rights." It’s infuriating but likely will pass into law whenever the House gets around to voting these provisions through and re-opening the government. The only real way to then challenge this provision once it is passed into law, is for these Senators to try to exercise their newfound rights by filing a lawsuit against, presumably, Jack Smith or perhaps one of his underlings because they love picking off the small guys first, and then that person being sued would have to argue that this law is invalid. There’s nothing we the people as individuals can do because technically it doesn’t directly affect us, we are not personally in danger of being sued. And yes you could argue well it’s OUR government and OUR tax dollars that are being abused in this way but unfortunately that’s too remote an argument to successfully claim standing to sue over a law like this in court. It is unfortunately just one of the millions of laws that will be filed away and eventually fall into obscurity but will remain on the books as a deep injustice to the American people that we can do nothing about.

Other questions about the appropriations bills that you guys asked me: is it true that there is an abortion ban hidden in these measures. No. As far as I can tell, there was talks of Republicans attempting to slip a federal abortion ban into any language as a bargaining chip for extending ACA subsidies. But the ACA subsidy extension was fully taken out of the bill and therefore any abortion ban would have gone with it. But it is an indicator of what we have to look forward to if the Republicans make good on their promise to restart talks on ACA subsidies next month–they will likely once again attempt to use a nationwide abortion ban as a bargaining chip to say well sure you can have your ACA subsidies but only if we get this abortion ban. That being said, the Hyde Amendment places restrictions on the use of premium tax credits for abortions, so the use of federal funds for abortions is already limited to cases that endanger the life of the mother or are a result of rape or incest. That’s probably too permissive in many Republican eyes but it’s not like Welfare Queens are getting 20 abortions using ACA subsidies like let’s all take a fucking breather.

And then the other provision in the Senate-passed bills that is causing a lot of uproar is over hemp. The Agriculture and FDA appropriations bill includes a provision, added at the last minute, that has been pushed for by the likes of debbie downer Mitch McConnell for YEARS. It criminalizes the sale of any hemp product that has more than .4 milligrams of total THC per container, including Delta 8. According to reporting from The Guardian, about 95% of hemp products have more than .4 milligrams of THC in them. Kentucky is a major producer of hemp products, and so Republican representatives from Kentucky are putting up a stink about the potential damage this provision can do to the hemp industry in that state. It’s unclear whether that would be enough to fully hold up the vote in the House. This provision would cut back on the number of legal products permitted at the federal level. Each state has their own rules about what happens with weed and products WITHIN the state, but the federal government has its own rules about what weed can be sold in interstate commerce, so any federal regulations significantly impacts the potential growth for hemp producers. The hemp industry has some pretty strong lobbying capabilities so it’s very likely that this provision would be fought by industry members and the politicians from their states if it gets passed.

Separately from the bills reopening the government, a lot of you asked about this idea casually floated by the Trump administration that new mortgages should become available. You’ve heard of the 15 year and of the incredibly popular 30 year mortgages, but boy has Trump got a deal for you. 50 year mortgages folks. That’s right, 50 years to pay off that mortgage debt. And if you just take one second to think about it you can see why this is such a fuck ass deal. First of all do we not remember the 2008 financial crisis? Like can we not toy around with fun and novel ways for people to obtain precarious amount of debt tied to their homes? Please? Also the Dood Frank Act passed after the 2008 financial crisis explicitly states that home loan terms cannot exceed 30 years. Of course laws are merely suggestions for Trump and I’m sure if daddy really wanted this his minions would figure out ways to try to argue that Congress can’t pass a law about mortgage terms only the tiny king gets to have a say.

But also the problem with housing affordability in this country comes down to a lack of housing stock because we don’t have builders because we fucking DEPORTED THEM ALL and also because major investors and private equity buy up everything they can, pushing up rent AND housing prices while lowering quality of living for everyone. And instead of, say, putting in place major restrictions on excessive home ownership by private equity or supporting rent freezes or providing funding for the building of affordable houses, no no Trump is like how can we ensnare MORE Americans into a horrible deal that solely benefits banks while leaving the private equity market untouched. I know, 50 year mortgages. The director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency Bill Pulte who, what do ya know, is the heir to a residential home construction company fortune, and is only 37 like that is a ROUGH 37 my dude, anyway ol Bill over here was like omg you guys this is going to be a quote COMPLETE GAME CHANGER. Trump officials are selling it as a way to “significantly” lower monthly payments so more people could buy houses. But what this really is is just a windfall for the lenders. 30 year mortgages already mean that the lender makes often MORE back in interest than they originally lent in the loan. Like MAYBE half of my monthly mortgage payments go towards the actual body of the loan I owe. CNN laid out a good example: “Take a $450,000 home, for example. With a 30-year fixed mortgage at a 6.25% interest rate, the monthly payment would be about $2,771. Over the life of that loan, the homeowner would pay more than $547,000 in interest.

With a 50-year loan at the same rate, the monthly payment would fall to around $2,452 – but total interest would balloon to about $1.02 million, or 87% more than on the 30-year loan.”

So you’re paying 87% more on interest while saving about $300 per month on your mortgage for a $450,000 home. And frankly for most Americans a $2400 monthly mortgage payment isn’t much more attainable than a $2700 monthly mortgage payment. On TOP of that, without addressing the underlying causes of the housing crisis–the lack of affordable housing stock–the 50 year mortgages would actually INCREASE the cost of available homes because demand would go up but supply would not, so any monthly mortgage savings would be offset by the fact that houses themselves are more expensive, thus requiring a larger mortgage to purchase. AND mortgage lenders may charge even higher interest rates on 50 year mortgages because the length is so long it results in higher risk of default. And the HUGE interest payments that would make up a portion of the monthly mortgage payment every month means home buyers would gain equity in their homes VERY slowly, so if they did want to get out from under such a loan, it would be really difficult because they wouldn’t have much equity to pull from to try to refinance or make any changes to their situation. PLUS the average first time home buyer in this country is 40 years old, meaning they would be paying off the loan into their 90s?? The benefits are so dramatically outweighed by the drawbacks for everyone except the lending companies, of course. When asked to elaborate further by Laura Ingram on Fox, Trump played it off like it was no big deal, because he knows it’s a stupid fucking idea and he saw the backlash and now he’s trying to play it cool.

Because I’d also like to just highlight the fucking stupidity of how this whole thing was announced. Reporters are simply saying the “Trump administration” has announced plans but let’s not fucking downplay how stupid the “official” announcements of plans happens in this stupid fucking country right now. As I was reading these news articles today I was like oh surely this must have been a press release on the official white house website, perhaps? Or perhaps an official statement released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency on their website?? No No! Because WE live in the DUMBEST FUCKING TIMELINE OF THEM ALL, the quote unquote ANNOUNCEMENT by the quote unquote TRUMP ADMINISTRATION came as follows: On November 8th, President of the United States Donald John Trump made a post on Truth Social, the social media platform he personally owns, that was just an image with no context or caption. In the image, it says GREAT AMERICAN PRESIDENTS and underneath there are two pictures: President Roosevelt and President Trump. Above Roosevelt, the words 30-YEAR MORTGAGE. Above Trump the words 50-YEAR MORTGAGE. Then, some twitter account called “Commentary Donald J. Trump” which is an UNOFFICIAL twitter account of some random person that just reposts shit that Trump posts on Truth social, this unofficial account reposted the picture onto Twitter. And then The Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency who is also heir to a major residential building enterprise Bill Pulte replied to that tweet saying “Thanks to President Trump, we are indeed working on The 50 year Mortgage - a complete game changer.” That’s it that’s the fucking tweet. And the media was like holy shit breaking news the Trump administration just announced a 50 year mortgage. NO NO. Two complete fucking nincompoops made vague unverified posts on social media after a meeting at Mar a Lago over the weekend PLEASE LET US BE CLEAR ABOUT SOURCING HERE. This is so fucking STUPID it’s such an insult to our intelligence and the standing of this country that we are forced to get information in truly the dumbest fucking way possible, let’s PLEASE not pretend that this is normal.

And then finally a few of you asked what to expect with regards to SNAP benefits. Some states stepped in and filled the void left when the SNAP benefit funding lapsed with this government shutdown on November 1st. Some of the millions of Americans who rely on food assistance received nothing. When the Trump administration was ordered by a judge to at least partially pay out November benefits, the Trump regime appealed that ruling. Like make no mistake the regime is fighting tooth and nail looking for any legal loophole that will allow them to make Americans go hungry. It’s fucking evil. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court, through its shadow docket, extended the order blocking the payment of full SNAP benefits because of the likelihood that the government will reopen soon. Basically they didn’t want to make a decision on the matter since it would soon be moot. Once the new funding bill is approved, it would fund SNAP through the entire fiscal year until next September. It’s unclear how quickly the full payments would resume given the patchwork of benefits that went out in November. For states that didn’t issue any payments, it would likely be easier because they just flip a switch and the full payments get issued, whereas other states that issued partial payments would need to figure out what payments still needed to be paid for November, which will create an administrative headache. If you’re unsure, I would google your own state and SNAP benefits to see if there’s any reporting on what officials have said. Given the truly devastating consequences for over 40 million Americans who rely on their SNAP benefits for survival, I imagine states will want to be quick to reinstate the benefits. In the meantime, if you are in a position to help, keep donating to local food pantries because it will still take time for them to replenish their stores after this unprecedented spike in demand and cut in funding, which impacted them as well.

And if you’d like to support my work, consider joining here on YouTube by clicking the big join button below, or supporting me over on Patreon, patreon dot com slash Leeja miller, where you get access to all these episodes completely ad free. Thank you to my multi-platinum patrons Marc, Sarah Shelby, Art, David, L’etranger (Lukus), Thomas Johnson, and Tay. Your generosity makes this channel what it is, so thank you!

And if you liked this episode, you’ll like the one from Monday about what the fuck is going on with ending the government shut down.

Leeja Miller
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