Fannie Mae-No Politics (FNMA)

[kthomp19]

I would argue that Congress could influence any of these, but it would take a broad consensus that has until now been missing. Corker's amendment that (supposedly) stops Treasury from selling any FnF-related securities for another year is an example, though that particular one is poorly worded and could be circumvented while sticking to the letter of the law.

Still, I think this process has many moving pieces and even with a cooperative Watt I can't see Mnuchin taking too many unilateral actions, even if he has the proper authority. With the right legislation Congress can undo much of what Mnuchin does, so he can't piss them off too much.

Trump is the true trump card here. If he agrees with Mnuchin (and Paulson, Icahn, Berkowitz, Ackman, etc.) on a purely executive endgame, he can veto any true anti-GSE legislation; I can't see 2/3 of each chamber agreeing to kill off the GSEs.