The House Financial Services Committee recently approved a bill to reform housing finance and end the taxpayer-funded bailout of government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The bill, the Protecting American Taxpayers and Homeowners Act, was sponsored by Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee Chairman Scott Garrett (R-N.J.).
Other Financial Service Committee members, including Housing and Insurance Subcommittee Chairman Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) and Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee Chairman Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), helped guide the PATH Act through a committee process that included 12 hearings and at least 50 testimonies.
“My colleagues and I have offered a commonsense plan for housing reform that makes housing markets more stable for homeowners and gets taxpayers off the hook for costly bailouts,” Neugebauer said. “By winding down Fannie and Freddie and returning the Federal Housing Administration to its original mission of helping first-time and low-income buyers, we’re clearing space for a healthy private market to grow.”
The proposed bill would end of the $200 billion taxpayer-funded bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, phase out the enterprises within five years, end the federal government’s control of the housing finance market and provide consumers with more options to determine the mortgage product most appropriate for their individual needs.
“Americans deserve a better housing finance system, one that is sustainable and moves towards the private sector,” Capito said. “I am proud to be part of that process with the PATH Act, and our work to deliver that goal to the American people. We need a sustainable system that puts the interest of taxpayers and homebuyers first, and our bill does just that.”
The committee passed the bill in late July in a 30-27 vote. It is slated for consideration before the House Ways and Means Committee.