White House Seeks More Money for OFHEO

The White House, anticipating that Congress will not pass a government-sponsored enterprise regulatory bill this year, is asking legislators for an additional $19.3 million to fund the operations of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.The administration, in budget requests sent to Congress recently, asked legislators to increase OFHEO's total funding by 48%, to $59.2 million. OFHEO is dealing with the remnants of Freddie Mac's $5 billion earnings restatement scandal, and is conducting a forensic audit of Fannie Mae's accounting practices. OFHEO Director Armando Falcon said in a statement that he "appreciates the administration's support for increasing resources for enhanced regulatory oversight" of Fannie and Freddie. The agency recently ordered Fannie Mae to take additional writedowns on its troubled $8 billion manufactured housing loan portfolio. Fannie was required to submit recalculations on its MH portfolio on Friday.