Bill Could Put Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Costs in U.S. Budget

Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee are backing a bill that would require the Obama administration to include the costs of propping up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the federal budget. The bill sponsored by Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., would potentially add hundreds of billions of dollars to the federal deficit. Treasury has already provided the two government-sponsored enterprises with $110 billion to ensure they maintain a positive net worth. The administration is "obscuring the cost of the GSEs from the taxpayers by not including it in the budget," said Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala. The ranking committee Republican also criticized the Treasury Department for extending unlimited capital backing for the GSEs over the next three years. "It is time for Obama administration to own up the full cost of the blank check they wrote for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac," Rep. Bachus said. Separately, Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., postponed a scheduled March 2 hearing on the future of the housing finance system and the GSEs.