In an article in the Wall Street Journal March 18
Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said he hopes to introduce legislation later this year to restructure government-backed mortgage investors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
“The current model is broken,” the Massachusetts Democrat said in an interview Tuesday. One possibility, he said, is to separate the companies into entities serving two functions: one that would ensure adequate funding for the home-mortgage market as a whole and another that would provide government subsidies for housing low-income people.
The Bush administration wanted that back in September 2003!
The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.
Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the two largest players in the mortgage lending industry.
Ahh… but Barney said on that issue:
”These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,” said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ”The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”
….and he’s the head of the Financial Services Committee now…. my, my….. Pot? Mr. Kettle is calling!
0 Responses
Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.
You must be logged in to post a comment.