Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are way too undercapitalized, and lending standards have actually deteriorated since the housing crash, Trump administration officials say
The U.S. housing finance system is worse off today than it was on the cusp of the 2008 financial crisis, Republican lawmakers and Trump administration officials warned on Tuesday.
The hearing kicked off what promises to be a highly contentious debate over the plans released last week by the Departments of Treasury and Housing and Urban Development to scale back the federal government’s massive role in the mortgage market. Republicans are focusing on what they say are growing risks in the system, while Democrats are mostly concerned about providing affordable housing.
“I will tell you as a safety-and-soundness regulator, when I look at a $3 trillion institution that is leveraged 1,000 to 1, it keeps me up at night,” Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria, the companies’ regulator, told the committee.Political intelligence on Washington and Wall Street — weekday mornings, in your inbox.By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Yet when Sen. Mark Warner pressed Mnuchin and Calabria on whether the Financial Stability Oversight Council, the uber regulator created after the crisis to spot emerging risks in the financial system, should subject Fannie and Freddie to greater oversight, they rejected the idea. Mnuchin disputed Warner’s characterization, and he and Calabria emphasized that the White House plan includes reforms to reduce the risk in the companies’ portfolios.
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