Fannie Mae-No Politics (FNMA)

[kthomp19]

On FNMA's website under governance, the board of directors narrative clearly states that the 2008 conservatorship was imposed under the auspices of the GSE Act (and not HERA). THERE IS NO SUCCESSION CLAUSE in that statute.

I see where you are going with this, but unfortunately it's actually a complete nothingburger.

The "GSE Act" is just another name for the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992. Search "GSE Act" in this 2001 HUD paper and this 2013 Heritage Foundation article, co-authored by Norbert Michel, for mentions of the equivalence. I found others by doing a search for 1992 "GSE Act".

Calabria, on page 3 of his FHFA 2021-2024 Strategic Plan, said:

The Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 (Safety and Soundness Act) as amended by HERA, assigns to FHFA regulatory oversight of the FHLBank System, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

The key phrase is "as amended by HERA". Many parts of HERA just amended sections of the 1992 Safety and Soundness Act. See the text of HERA and its many references to the GSE Act being amended, though that text always refers to it by its full name of the "Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992". Searching that phrase in HERA's text gives 83 hits, with most of them saying that HERA is amending it.

Overall, this means that the 1992 GSE Act, as amended by HERA (to include, among other things, the succession clause), is the controlling statute that governs FHFA's regulation of FnF, which includes the conservatorships.

In short: the GSE Act includes all of HERA in it.