Democrat Party Hypocrisy On Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac

From Red State:




Posted by Moe Lane (Profile)



Wednesday, September 8th at 5:00PM EDT



18 Comments

This is a copy of a letter from 2004 House Democrats and sent to then-President George W Bush. In it, the signatories complained that the administration had taken a hard line with ‘housing-related government sponsored enterprises’ (GSEs) such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by insisting on emphasizing fiscal prudence and responsible lending over increased affordable housing access. The relevant section?



We have been concerned that the Administration’s legislative proposal regarding the GSEs would weaken affordable housing performance by the GSEs, by emphasizing only safety and soundness. While the GSEs’ affordable housing mission is not in any way incompatible with their safety and soundness, an exclusive focus on safety and soundness is likely to come, in practice, at the expense of affordable housing.



Needless to say, this letter more or less completely subverts the narrative - lovingly created during the 2008 campaign, and kept up ever since - that the entire housing meltdown was really the (racist) Republicans’ fault. Barney Frank is particularly outrageous, here: he’s gone from being Freddie Mac’s most devoted patron to calling for its dissolution without once explaining (or apologizing for) his own role in the mess. Which is a strategy that worked fine in 2008; but it isn’t 2008 anymore.



Several additional thoughts on the matter:

1.I think that we have established by now that the unprincipled expansion of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - fueled by Democrats (including Maxine Waters, who is under investigation right now for using TARP money to bail out her husband’s residential loan-happy bank), by the way - is incompatible with promoting ’safety and soundness’.

2.I’m pretty sure that having our GSEs in a state of perpetual bailout is doing even more to hurt access to affordable housing.

3.The signatories of the letter are, to the best of my knowledge, either all still in Congress or have had their seats taken by another Democrat. This should be repaired: there is a list below.

Moe Lane





Hypocrite District 2010 GOP Candidate Website

Artur Davis AL-07 Don Chamberlain www.donchamberlain.me/

Mike Ross AR-04 Beth Anne Rankin http://www.bethannerankinforcongress.com/

Raul M. Grijalva AZ-07 Ruth McClung www.ruth4az.com/

George Miller CA-07 Rick Tubbs www.ricktubbs4congress.com/

Barbara Lee CA-09 Gerald Hashimoto www.geraldforcongress.com/

Anna Eshoo CA-14 Dave Chapman www.davechapmanforcongress.com/

Michael M. Honda CA-15 Scott Kirkland http://www.kirkland2010.com/

Sam Farr CA-17 Jeff Taylor www.taylor4congress.com/site/

Brad Sherman CA-27 Mark Reed www.markreedforcongress.com/

Maxine Waters CA-29 John P. Colbert www.johncolbertforcongress.com/

Lucille Roybal-Allard CA-34 Wayne Miller www.waynemiller34th.com/

Nancy Pelosi CA-8 John Dennis www.johndennis2010.com/

John Lewis GA-05 Fenn Little www.fennlittle.com

Jim Marshall GA-08 Austin Scott http://www.scottforga.com/

David Scott GA-13 Mike Crane www.craneforcongress.com/

Sanford D. Bishop GA-2 Mike Keown www.mikekeown.com/

Luis V. Gutierrez IL-04 Israel Vasquez www.israel2congress.com/index.html

Danny Davis IL-07 Mark Weiman www.weiman2010.com/

Dennis Mooore KS-03 Kevin Yoder www.yoderforcongress.com/

John Olver MA-01 Bill Gunn http://www.billgunnforcongress.org/

Richard E. Neal MA-02 TBD

James McGovern MA-03 Brian Herr www.brianherr.com/

Barney Frank MA-04 Sean Bielat www.seanbielat.org/

Martin Meehan MA-05 TBD

John F. Tierney MA-06 Bill Hudak www.hudakforcongress.com/

Michael Capuano MA-08 None

Stephen Lynch MA-09 TBD

William D Delahunt MA-10 TBD

Steny Hoyer MD-05 Charles Lollar www.lollarforcongress.com/index.php/home /

Sander M. Levin MI-12 Don Volaric www.volaricforcongress.com

John Dingell MI-15 Robert Steele www.robsteeleforcongress.com/

Betty McCollum MN-04 Teresa Collett www.collettforcongress.com/

Lacy Clay MO-01 Robyn Hamlin http://www.hamlinforcongress.com/

Bennie Thompson MS-02 Bill Marcy www.billmarcyforcongress.com/

Bob Etheridge NC-02 Renee Ellmers www.reneeforcongress.com/

David E. Price NC-04 B.J. Lawson http://www.lawsonforcongress.com/

Melvin Watt NC-12 Greg Dority www.gregdorityforcongress.com/

Brad Miller NC-13 William A. Randall www.randallforcongress.com/

Donald M Payne NJ-10 Michael Alonso www.michaeljalonso.com

Robert Menedenz NJ-13 Henrietta Dwyer http://www.dwyer4congress.com/

Steve Israel NY-02 John Gomez www.gomez2010.com/default/index.cfm

Carolyn McCarthy NY-04 Frank Scaturro www.frankscaturro.com/

Gary Ackerman NY-05 TBD

Gergory Meeks NY-06 Asher Taub www.taubforcongress.com

Joseph Crowley NY-07 TBD

Edolphus Towns NY-10 TBD

Carolyn Maloney NY-14 TBD

Charles Rangel NY-15 Michel Faulkner www.faulknerforcongress.com/

Joe Baca NY-23 TBD

Marcy Kaptur OH-09 Rich Iott www.voteiott.com/

Earl Blumenauer OR-03 Delia Lopez www.dlopezforcongress.com/

Robert A. Brady PA-01 Pia Varma www.votepia.com

Chaka Fattah PA-02 Rick Hellberg www.rickhellberg.mypoliticalsite.com/

Paul E. Kanjorksi PA-11 Lou Barletta www.loubarletta.com/

Patrick Kennedy RI-01 John Loughlin www.johnloughlin.org

James Langevin RI-02 Bill Clegg www.billcleggforcongress.com/index.php

Ruben Hinojosa TX-15 Eddie Zamora www.elect-eddiezamora.com/

Charles A. Gonzalez TX-20 Clayton Trotter www.trotterforcongress.com/

Chris Bell TX-25 Donna Campbell http://www.drdonnaforcongress.com/

Robert C Scott VA-03 Chuck Smith www.chucksmith2010.com/

James P. Moran VA-08 J. Patrick Murray www.murray4congress.com/

Jay Inslee WA-01 James Watkins www.watkinsforcongress.com/

Jim McDermott WA-07 None

Nick Rahall WV-03 Elliott ‘Spike’ Maynard http://www.ilikespike.org/



Crossposted to Moe Lane