A new home for the Center
We redesigned usalending.org. Insights now has everything we have published, including the two pieces on the Federal Loan Systems Modernization Act below. There is a running list of events, a guide to the credit programs we cover, and an archive of The Lending Brief. Come take a look, and pass on the subscribe link to anyone who should be reading this.
Energy Dominance Financing has a plan and a nuclear restart
DOE’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing published its 2026-2030 strategic plan. EDF runs four loan programs with combined authority above $300 billion, has issued $126 billion in loans and guarantees since its inception, and manages a $2.5 billion revolving Transmission Facilitation Program. The five stated goals are lower energy costs, more grid generation, energy innovation and manufacturing, national security, and domestic jobs.
On September 8, EDF closed a loan of up to $1.9 billion to NextEra Energy to restart the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Linn County, Iowa, which shut down in 2020. DOE and SBA also signed a memorandum of agreement on August 24 creating the SBIC-E initiative, which points SBIC fund formation toward energy, critical minerals, advanced manufacturing, AI, quantum, semiconductors, and biotech. The SBIC program currently holds $58 billion in combined portfolio value.
SBA rewrites the 7(a) and 504 rulebook
SBA issued SOP 50 10 8.1, effective October 1. It incorporates a year of program updates, revises International Trade Loan eligibility to favor industries treated as essential to American strength, and reworks change of ownership and business acquisition lending. SBA strengthened change of ownership requirements while simplifying equity rules for Business Acquisition and Owner Buyout loans. Lenders can now pair eligible change of ownership transactions with revolving lines of credit, including the expanded MARC loan and the Working Capital Pilot, financing part of an acquisition through a line rather than entirely through a term loan.
Beyond the balance sheet
Shelley Metzenbaum and Sarah Cunningham published a two-part look at what federal credit reporting does not capture today. Part one observes that financial statements show whether loans get repaid, not whether the programs worked. SBA 7(a) data shows repayment rates without showing whether the businesses survived or added jobs. DOE’s portfolio carries a 2% loss rate against 1.3% at commercial banks. USDA revoked ten lenders in May 2026, leaving $620 million in delinquent loans, 47% of that portfolio. Part two argues the tools already exist, since OMB Circular A-129 and enterprise risk management can do this work if applied consistently and reported publicly. They point back to the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART), which rated 39 credit programs and found 21 effective and 4 with no demonstrated results because the data was not there.
Fannie Mae thins its senior ranks
The Wall Street Journal reported turmoil in Fannie Mae’s senior ranks as at least ten executives departed. HousingWire obtained a list of roughly ten officials notified on August 20 that their positions were eliminated, spanning capital markets, regulatory affairs, and multifamily, several of them with more than a decade at the company. FHFA Director Bill Pulte said “technology is improving and providing opportunities for us to remove unnecessary processes and unfortunately at times personnel.” Fannie reported $4 billion in second quarter net income, up 20% year over year.
Four members ask their colleagues to sign on
Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Representatives Brad Finstad (R-MN) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) circulated a Dear Colleague letter on August 4 asking members to support the Federal Loan Systems Modernization Act, introduced as S. 3980 and H.R. 7789. The bill would create Lending.gov, a single front door to federal loan programs backed by shared technology for identity, data sharing, and servicing, on the Grants.gov model, while agencies keep their own program requirements.
What CBO will not count
We also worked through how the bill scores. We think CBO would put it close to zero. The discretionary cost is small, plausibly low tens of millions over five years for GSA planning, acquisition support, and governance, and the cost recovery fee agencies pay is an offsetting collection, so the mandatory and revenue effects cancel. Agencies would spend less on loan systems, but absent an appropriation reduction directed by Congress, CBO cannot record that as savings. Our estimate puts the combinable base at $0.5 billion to $1.5 billion a year across civilian agencies. At a 30% savings rate, that is $250 million to $300 million annually at maturity, or $1.0 billion to $1.5 billion over ten years net of transition costs. The one path to a scoreable effect runs through FCRA, where lower default assumptions reduce subsidy appropriations for new cohorts and better loan performance reduces upward reestimates on existing loans.