PrintBarney Frank's flip flop on Fannie and Freddie oversight
That was then:
Six years ago, in September 2003, when then President George W. Bush (R) proposed placing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under the supervision of a new agency within the Treasury Department because of deep concern whether its $1.5 trillion mortgage debt was properly run and because of charges of accounting irregularities, Rep Barney Frank (D-MA), head of the House Financial Services Committee, which oversees these two government backed agencies, retorted, as reported by the NY Times:
''These two entities - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ''The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.''This is now:
Less then a week after Senator elect Scott Brown (R-MA) overturned politics in Massachusetts (yes, even I can spell it without spell check although I don't live in the state and am not running for office there), including capturing Barney Frank's district , Jordan Fabian of The Hill informs us that Frank now proposes:
"I believe this committee will be recommending abolishing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in their current form and coming up with a whole new system of housing finance," he said at a committee hearing. "That's the approach, rather than the piecemeal one."
As Fabian so delicately explains.
Frank's words cast doubt on the future of two two (sic) mortgage giants, which have received over $110 billion in government assistance after they nearly failed during the flood of defaulted mortgages during the housing crisis.
The Massachusetts Democrat earlier this month said that Fannie and Freddie are now serving as a public policy arm of the government.
Is that Bush's fault also?
Grab those tea bags and tea party on! The revolution has begun!
Change so many of us can really believe in.
