The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises has voted to approve a series of bills aimed at winding down operations at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The measures reported from the Subcommittee include:

  • HR 1224: This measure would cap the GSEs’ maximum portfolio size at $700 billion and gradually reduce that cap to $250 billion over five years. The legislation, approved 20-14 by the panel, mirrors provisions in a broader GSE overhaul bill (HR 1182). The majority rejected an amendment offered by Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass.) that would allow allow Fannie and Freddie to retain mortgage assets held to meet risk retention requirements in the 2010 financial overhaul law.
  • HR 1222: This measure would gradually raise the GSEs’ guarantee fees in an effort to lure private capital back into the market, an idea the Obama administration has endorsed.
  • HR 1221: This measure would suspend current compensation packages for Fannie and Freddie senior executives and require compensation similar to the pay of other senior federal employees.
  • HR 1223: This measure would require the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Housing Finance Agency to issue joint regulations on credit risk retention.
  • HR 31: This measure would place new reporting requirements on the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
  • HR 1226: This measure would repeal Fannie and Freddie’s affordable housing goals.
  • HR 1225: This measure would require advance approval from the Treasury Department for the two companies to issue new debt.
  • HR 1227: This measure would prohibit Fannie and Freddie from engaging in any new activities or businesses during conservatorship or receivership.

Financial Services Chairman Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., announced on Tuesday that the panel may consider as many as 16 additional measures to address the GSEs’ activities in addition to the comprehensive bill (HR 1182), before it takes up the separate pieces that the subcommittee approved this week.