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Garrett Announces Subcommittee Hearing To Tackle Fannie, Freddie Reform


WASHINGTON, Feb 2 -

:   Capital Markets Subcommittee Chairman Scott Garrett announced today the Subcommittee will convene a hearing on reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The hearing will be held on Wednesday, February 9th at 2 pm in room 2128 Rayburn.

Subcommittee Chairman Garrett said, “This hearing will be the first in a series of hearings to examine the steps Congress can take right now to protect taxpayers from the ongoing bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  With a price tag of $150 billion and counting, Congress must take immediate measures to minimize this cost and ensure taxpayers are never put in this situation again.  The status quo is unacceptable, which is why we will continue to seek alternative solutions to housing finance in the United States that decrease the government’s exposure and get private capital off the sidelines.”

The hearing, entitled GSE Reform: Immediate Steps to Protect Taxpayers and End the Bailout, will focus on immediate steps that Congress can take to begin Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s transition out of Federal conservatorship and examine ways to end the $150 billion (and growing) bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Democrats’ financial regulation bill left Fannie and Freddie untouched, and this is the first Committee hearing that will explore legislative solutions to wind down the operations of the GSEs.

Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus said, “Just because the Administration is not prepared to act on GSE reformdoes not mean that House Republicans will not take action. This is the beginning of our efforts to wind down the operations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in order to protect taxpayers from having even more of their hard-earned money thrown at these two companies.”
 
The bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has cost taxpayers more than all of the other bailouts combined. This week, the Administration missed a deadline imposed by Federal law for submitting a plan to end the conservatorship of the GSEs. While the Administration continues to disregard the urgent need for reform, Fannie and Freddie continue to hemorrhage losses.

Witnesses will be announced at a later date.