This week: Slower week, still hot topics

{mosads}On Tuesday, the Census Bureau will release fresh data on new home construction, while the Mortgage Bankers Association will offer up its weekly data on mortgage applications Wednesday.

On Thursday, the National Association of Realtors will update its findings on the number of real estate transactions occurring nationwide.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Wednesday will unveil a prototype mortgage disclosure form that would combine two existing mortgage forms and fill it with easier-to-understand language. That document will then be field-tested in cities across the nation before the CFPB begins writing rules on its use.

Staying in the housing sector, a subcommittee of the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday will discuss the state of the nation’s securitization markets. As lawmakers work to overhaul the housing market, finding out how to drive the private sector into a larger role in those markets will be a key issue.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will deliver remarks on Monday at Georgetown University. Speaking at a conference there, he will delve into the government’s role in driving innovation, research and development.

The Fed will also be in the news Tuesday when it releases the minutes from April’s meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) is using the House break to head to Chicago, where he will meet employees at the financial firm CME Group. He will use the Tuesday visit to tout the GOP’s efforts to grow the private economy.

On Wednesday, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) will discuss the debt limit at an event hosted by the American Enterprise Institute. The freshman senator has accused the administration of using scare tactics when warning of economic catastrophe if the debt limit is not raised, and is the leading sponsor of legislation that he says will prevent the government from defaulting even if the limit is reached.

The Senate Finance Committee will host a hearing Tuesday on how the nation can finance cutting-edge infrastructure. Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) is slated to testify.

On the same day, the Senate Banking Committee will discuss the Export-Import Bank, while on Thursday the full committee will discuss the state of the nation’s public transportation systems.