Members of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) unveiled their plan on Tuesday to introduce eight bills over the next few months that will “wind down” Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., chairman of the Committee, said in a statement that “today marks a process” in which Committee members will “introduce multiple rounds of very specific, very targeted bills to end the bailouts, protect the taxpayers and get private capital off the sidelines.” The culmination of the Committee’s efforts, he continued, “will formally wind down the GSEs and return our housing finance system to the private marketplace.”
With American taxpayers “on the hook for $150 billion and counting,” Garrett (right) said, “the bailout of Fannie and Freddie is already the most expensive component of the federal government’s intervention into the financial system. Americans are tired of the ongoing bailout of the failed government-backed mortgage giants, and they are tired of Democrats’ refusals to address the driving force behind the financial collapse.”
The Capital Markets Subcommittee plans to hold a hearing on the eight bills on Thursday, with a markup scheduled for Tuesday, April 5th.
The eight bills are as follows:
The Equity in Government Compensation Act, sponsored by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Spencer Bachus (left), R-Ala. Bachus’ legislation would establish a compensation system for employees of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that is consistent with other federal government employees. Says Bachus: “Now that Fannie and Freddie are owned by the government, there is no reason that employees of Fannie and Freddie should not be paid like government employees. In addition, the bill expresses the sense of the Congress that the 2010 pay packages for Fannie and Freddie senior executives were excessive and that the money should be returned to taxpayers.”
The GSE Mission Improvement Act, sponsored by Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., would permanently abolish the affordable housing goals of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Royce says that his “bill permanently abolishes the GSEs’ affordable housing goals, which were a central cause behind the collapse of the GSEs. The ongoing goal of the GSEs should be to reduce risk to taxpayers, not expose them to further losses.” The bill eliminates “these requirements and ending the mandate that Fannie and Freddie buy riskier loans in the name of affordable housing in the United States, the bill will protect American taxpayers going forward.”
The Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Accountability and Transparency for Taxpayers Act, introduced by Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Ill., chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity. As described by the Subcommittee: Biggert’s bill ramps up oversight of Fannie Mae