The Obama administration failed to release a report today on how Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae could be reformed, despite being required to do so by the Dodd-Frank law passed last summer.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R., Texas), who chairs the House Republican Conference, said in a statement that the White House’s failure to meet the deadline made it “crystal clear that the President is not serious about reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”
“The Obama Administration’s repeated inability to propose a plan to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac calls into question their commitment to taxpayer protection and their ability to effectively govern on this issue,” Hensarling added. “After more than $150 billion in Fannie and Freddie bailouts, we can no longer afford to allow the Administration to kick the can down the road.”
Financial Services Committee chairman Spencer Baucus (R., Ala.) also criticized the administration, saying in a statement that “the Democrats always offer an excuse for not meeting deadlines, even those they themselves impose.”
Baucus, who will be holding hearings on GSE reform in the upcoming weeks, stated that “GSE reform is a top priority for Republicans in this Congress.”
A Treasury Department spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires that the administration hoped to release a report in February.
"A Treasury Department spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires that the administration hoped to release a report in February."
Ok... so they got the 'hope' part in there, but where's the 'change'?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhat good is a law that "requires" a part of the government to do something, if that law can be blown off so easily? Imagine if I could blow off the law requiring a building permit to modify my home, and just build whatever I wanted. That would be... freedom. But it would be punished severely by the government. Instead, we have a situation where the government can blow off its legal requirements, which is rather more like despotism, and nothing happens.
The media, who are supposed to monitor and expose this sort of thing, are engaged in a disgraceful betrayal of the principles of free speech. Kudos to NRO for at least mentioning this administrations gross neglect of its responsibilities.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseLaws are for the little people.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI guess they forgot the "or else" part of the law. Why not amend the law to allow the House Budget Committee to take control if they miss the deadline.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe solution is very simple: Phase them out completely.
The rationale for their existence was to make housing "more affordable". If any government program has proven to be an utter failure its all the housing subsidy programs.
Housing prices relative to income rose consistently for the last 40 years. All the subsidies did was layer in another level of higher prices, discounted by the various subsidies.....exactly like the subsidies for college education funding.
All these subsidies do, over time, is artificially raise demand and costs.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf republicans ever roll out concrete, detailed proposals of their own that actually represents more than political posturing, maybe I'll begin to take them seriously. I've heard the same campaign pitches and seen the subsequent dog and pony shows too often to be swayed by their words.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWonder how large the staff responsible for producing that report might be.
In the private sector, a blown assignment like that would probably mean walking papers.
Might be a good place to begin cutting back, eh?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhy are there no "teeth" in the consequences for not meeting the REQUIRED date for the Dodd-Frank law ?
The bureaucrats responsible for this failure should be immediately fired at the very least. And since it is, supposedly, a "law" there should be legal repercussions for those responsible as well.
The continued failure of the U.S. economy/governance is exactly for the lack of any serious consequences for these constant failures.
What's the point of any law that can be broken with "impunity" ? ? ?
America has a fantastic private-sector . . . But once again Ronald Reagan was RIGHT !
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