Dems to hold Fannie, Freddie hearing – post election
thehill.com
By Mike Soraghan
Posted: 10/20/08 05:53 PM [ET]
Democrats are giving Republicans the hearing they’ve been demanding to dig into the failures of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but it won’t happen until after the election.
House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) Monday announced that he will hold a hearing into the collapse of the mortgage giants on Nov. 20, and plans to call several of the firms’ ex-CEOs, including Fannie Mae's Franklin Raines.
Republicans view the two companies as Democrats’ political Achilles heel amid a financial meltdown that has led to calls for more regulation of the financial sector. The GOP dubbed the companies the “toxic twins” and launched a campaign to discredit Waxman’s series of investigative hearings into corporate misdeeds by complaining he was ignoring “Fannie and Freddie.”
At the beginning of his second hearing, into the American International Group (AIG) insurance company, Waxman announced he would hold a hearing on the mortgage giants. Republicans immediately pressed him for a date.
“It seems highly suspicious that Chairman Waxman has delayed this particular hearing - which doubtless will focus on the desperate need for reform and Fannie and Freddy, and the equally desperate efforts by Democratic leaders to block those reforms,” said Michael Steel, spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio).
The Center for Responsive Politics found that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) the Democratic presidential nominee, has received more money since 1989 from Fannie Mae than any lawmaker except for Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.).
“We’re sort of splashing around in the wading pool when we should be looking into the cesspool,” Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) said as the Waxman hearings began.
Waxman also said he’d requested documents and information from the companies.
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Frank Taunts GOP On Fannie And Freddie
By Daniel W. Reilly
cbsnews.com
Oct 21, 2008
The Politico) Never one to let an accusation go unanswered, Rep. Barney Frank responded Tuesday afternoon to allegations that he and other Democrats are afraid to investigate improprieties at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
House Republicans are calling for a Justice Department probe into the matter, alleging that Democrats are unwilling to take on the mortgage giants.
Frank said that only when Democrats took control of Congress in 2006 did any serious attempts at regulation of Fannie and Freddie begin, after years of neglect by Republicans.
“In an unusual event, even by this year’s standards, House Republicans appear to be demanding a criminal investigation of their failure to legislate,” said Frank in a statement.
“The Republican demand that their legislative record of non-action be investigated appears to be the political equivalent of the note left to the police by serial offenders: stop me before I do not legislate again.”
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