Fannie, Freddie, Mel and Barney

With all the hysteria of how George Bush and John McCain got us in the current mess with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, I thought a little history lesson was in order. Syndicated radio talk show host Mark Levin revealed several interesting facts on his program last night that are too important for the mainstream media to overlook and that need to be brought to light.

To wit, The New York Times published an article on Sept. 11, 2003, that bears repeating here:

“The Bush Administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago. Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac … the plan is an acknowledgement by the Administration that oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac … is broken.”

This from a Bush Administration that is out of touch and sat idly by and let this crisis occur? Oh, there’s more from the Times article. You see, it appears that congressional Democrats opposed this restructuring plan, a plan that then-Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines supported. Why, you ask? Let’s return to the article, shall we?

“Congressional Democrats … fear that tighter regulation of the companies could sharply reduce their commitment to financing low-income and affordable housing.

“ ‘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.’

“Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.
‘I don’t see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,’ Mr. Watt said.”

I’ve been wondering why the silence has been deafening on Capitol Hill. No Enron-style investigations, no calls for special prosecutors. According to the current chairman of the House Banking Committee, Fannie and Freddie were not facing any financial crisis. It was just people exaggerating the problems.

Well, the American taxpayers are now on the hook for the “exaggerated problems” Mr. Frank and Mr. Watt thought was nothing more than a shell game brought out by those trying to weaken the power of poorer families to obtain affordable housing. Just remember the lines from these two Democratic congressmen the next time you hear Barack Obama and congressional Democrats attempt to lay the blame for Fannie and Freddie at the feet of President Bush. The president had it right five years ago and his reform plan was blocked by Democrats, not Republicans.