Newsroom

November 24, 2014

Obama won't change GSEs without Congress' ok

The Treasury Department confirmed Friday that the Obama administration will not end the conservatorship of government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac until housing finance reform legislation is passed.

According to The Wall Street Journal, a Treasury spokesman said, "The administration's position has not changed. Comprehensive housing finance reform legislation is the only way to end the conservatorship responsibly and transition to a new system that brings stability back to the housing market while protecting taxpayers."

The spokesman was responding to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson's, D-S.D., suggestion to Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt, in a hearing, that the conservatorship be ended if reform does not pass. Watt said, after the hearing, "In the short term I would rule it out, in the long term, I might not rule it out." He told Ranking Member Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, that conservatorship should not be a permanent state.

NAFCU holds that in any housing finance reform plan, credit unions' equal access to the secondary mortgage market should be preserved, along with fair pricing based on loan quality rather than volume.