Posted by
Damien Blaze on Thursday, October 02, 2008 6:32:48 PM
"I worry, frankly, that there's a tension here. The more people, in my judgment, exaggerate a
threat of safety and soundness, the more people conjure up the possibility of serious financial losses to the Treasury, which I do not see. I think we see entities that are fundamentally sound financially and can withstand some of the disaster scenarios. . ."
Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.)
House Financial Services Committee hearing
Sept. 10, 2003
"
Secretary Martinez, if it ain't broke, why do you want to fix it? Have the GSEs [government-sponsored enterprises] ever missed their housing goals?"
Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.)
House Financial Services Committee hearing
Sept. 10, 2003
"
I do think I do not want the same kind of focus on safety and soundness that we have in OCC [Office of the Comptroller of the Currency] and OTS [Office of Thrift Supervision]. I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation towards subsidized housing. . . ."
Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.)
House Financial Services Committee hearing
Sept. 25, 2003
"
I am just pissed off at OFHEO [Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight] because if it wasn't for you I don't think that we would be here in the first place. And Freddie Mac, who on its own, you know, came out front and indicated it is wrong, and now the problem that we have and that we are faced with is maybe some individuals who wanted to do away with GSEs in the first place, you have given them an excuse to try to have this forum so that we can talk about it and maybe change the direction and the mission of what the GSEs had, which they have done a tremendous job. . . This is not a matter of the agency engaging in any misconduct. ."
Rep. Gregory Meeks, (D., N.Y.)
House Financial Services Committee hearing
Sept. 25, 2003
"
However, I have sat through nearly a dozen hearings
where, frankly, we were trying to fix something that wasn't
broke. Housing is the economic engine of our economy, and in no
community does this engine need to work more than in mine. With
last week's hurricane and the drain on the economy from the war
in Iraq, we should do no harm to these GSEs. We should be
enhancing regulation, not making fundamental change.
Mr. Chairman, we do not have a crisis at Freddie Mac, and in
particular at Fannie Mae, under the outstanding leadership of Mr.
Frank Raines (one of Obama's advisors a fat-cat Democrat CEO who
took home $120,000,000 from Fannie Mae). Everything in the 1992
act has worked just fine. In fact, the GSEs have exceeded their
housing goals. . . ."
Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.)
House Financial Services Committee hearing
Sept. 25, 2003
And my worry is that we're using the recent safety and soundness concerns, particularly with Freddie, and with a poor regulator, as a straw man to curtail Fannie and Freddie's mission. And I don't think there is any doubt that there are some in the (Bush) administration who don't believe in Fannie and Freddie altogether, say let the private sector do it. That would be sort of an ideological position.
Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.)
Senate Banking Committee
Oct. 16, 2003
"
I, just briefly will say, Mr. Chairman, obviously, like most of us here, this is one of the great success stories of all time. And we don't want to lose sight of that and [what] has been pointed out by all of our witnesses here, obviously, the 70% of Americans who own their own homes today, in no small measure, due because of the work that's been done here. And that shouldn't be lost in this debate and
discussion. . . ."
Sen. Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.)
Senate Banking Committee
Feb. 25, 2004
"
I think a lot of people are being opportunistic, . . . throwing out the baby with the bathwater, saying, 'Let's dramatically restructure Fannie and Freddie,' when that is not what's called for as a result of what's happened here. . . ."
Sen. Jack Reed (D., R.I.)
Senate Banking Committee
June 15, 2006