Fannie Mae-No Politics (FNMA)

[navycmdr]

Democrats Nowhere Near Housing Finance Reform

Wednesday May 24, 2023 - [e-mail]



At a hearing Wednesday by the House Financial Services Committee, Sandra Thompson, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said the agency doesn’t have a plan to release Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from conservatorship. She added that housing finance reform is up to Congress.

That’s a sharp turn from former FHFA Director Mark Calabria, who took steps toward removing the government-sponsored enterprises from conservatorship during his tenure.

The GSEs are nearing 15 years of being under federal conservatorship. At the hearing, Rep. Warren Davidson, R-OH, noted that the GSEs’ conservatorship has lasted longer than the conservatorship of Britney Spears. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-CA, expressed some sympathy for Spears and little urgency for GSE reform.

“If it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” Sherman said of the GSEs’ conservatorship, noting that the GSEs help provide mortgages at relatively low interest rates and generate a profit for the federal government. “I realize conservatorship may not have worked well for Britney Spears, but it’s working out very well for us.”