Fannie Mae-No Politics (FNMA)

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Another View: Common interests subdue pessimism
A few examples show Democrats and Republicans can work together, and bipartisan bills on housing finance reform are a clear possibility. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) never brought the Johnson-Crapo bill to the floor.

This July 10, 2014 file photo shows a home for sale in Quincy, Mass. Housing finance reform to replace the once-bankrupt, now quasi-nationalized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is one area where common interest could produce congressional progress.
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AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, FileThis July 10, 2014 file photo shows a home for sale in Quincy, Mass. Housing finance reform to replace the once-bankrupt, now quasi-nationalized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is one area where common interest could produce congressional progress.
By The Washington Post
Posted Nov. 3, 2014 @ 11:45 am

This appeared in Sunday’s Washington Post:

We would say that it’s conventional wisdom that Washington is paralyzed by partisan conflict — but that term would not adequately express how deeply this pessimistic view has embedded itself in the political culture. Like many widely held beliefs, “Washington is broken” has a basis in reality, and then some. Only a truly blithe optimist would deny that obstacles to legislative compromise are formidable, or that they will persist no matter who wins Tuesday’s elections.

Also like many widely held beliefs, however, the “hopeless gridlock” meme has gotten a bit overdone. Beneath the conflictual surface, there are a surprising number of policy areas in which bipartisan agreement is not only imaginable but incipient, and where the two parties could produce results in the next Congress.

We have in mind work that Republicans and Democrats, mostly but not exclusively in the Senate, have done on issues that may not attract the most attention but matter a lot to people’s lives: shoring up the postal system, for example, or pushing through a sustainable transportation bill instead of the patched-together measure that currently governs federally assisted highway and subway construction. As we hope to show in this and future editorials, the building blocks of incremental but meaningful legislative progress are in place and might finally be cemented after voters have had their say. This pragmatic agenda may be achievable even if, as expected, President Obama still finds himself confronted by a Republican House, and no matter which party controls the Senate.

To be sure, on the bloodiest partisan battlefields — health care, climate change and the like — green shoots of compromise are difficult to discern. If Obama acts too precipitously on his own to bypass Congress on immigration, it could have damaging spillover effects to other issues. Conversely, the two parties find it all too easy to join in popular but irresponsible causes, such as blocking even the most modest of trims to military pensions. It’s still possible, alas, to assemble majorities on behalf of unpaid-for spending increases or tax cuts — including, perhaps, the annual grab-bag of business breaks known as “tax extenders,” which may come up in a lame-duck session.

Still, consider what already has happened in the complex but vital area of housing finance reform. Permanently replacing the once-bankrupt, now quasi-nationalized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is the great unfinished task of post-crisis financial repair. If achieved, a new system could supply home buyers, home builders and home lenders with something they all badly need: certainty. Before campaign 2014 began in earnest, Senate banking committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-S.D., and ranking member Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, moved a reform bill through their panel, on a 13-to-9 vote that included six Democrats and seven Republicans in the majority. The Obama administration has also signaled support for the concept, which was first developed by Republican Bob Corker (Tenn.) and Democrat Mark Warner (Va.).

http://www.lenconnect.com/article/20141103/OPINION/141109811/10079/OPINION