Full Speed Ahead on Fannie Report?

With James Lockhart installed as the new acting director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, the agency appears to be working overtime to complete a long-awaited report on OFHEO's investigation into Fannie Mae's $10.8 billion accounting scandal."Every effort is being made to complete the report in the next several weeks," said OFHEO spokeswoman Corinne Russell. Bush administration officials and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., are hoping the revelations in the OFHEO report will be dramatic and create momentum for passage of a GSE regulatory reform bill that substantially reduces Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's mortgage portfolios. The portfolios of the two government-sponsored enterprises have $1.4 trillion in total assets. Treasury Department officials say they continue to support Sen. Shelby's bill, which was approved by the banking committee last July, and are not willing to compromise on portfolio limits. Meanwhile, Chairman Shelby continues to stand by his GSE bill despite a lack of consensus that has kept the reform bill in limbo.