Bailouts of Omission Democrats’ Plans Ignore Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

Washington, Apr 21 - Republican Study Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-GA) issued the following statement regarding the complete lack of reforms to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in both Senator Chris Dodd’s (D-CT) financial regulatory reform legislation and similar legislation by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) that House Democrats passed last December.

“Officially, the Congressional Budget Office expects the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to cost taxpayers $380 billion,” said Chairman Price. “Unofficially, Democrats promised the companies an infinite bailout, forcing taxpayers to choke down all $1.6 trillion of their combined debt if necessary. At this point, that $1.6 trillion debt may as well be issued in U.S. Treasury bonds.

“The largest taxpayer bailout did not go to Bear Stearns, AIG, or Goldman Sachs; it went to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But those are the two government-created entities President Obama will likely not mention in his speech on Wall Street tomorrow because the Democrats’ notion of financial reform ignores them completely.

“The Democrats’ plans are bad enough by perpetuating and codifying Washington’s bailout mentality. They are made even worse because Democrats just do not care to acknowledge the huge role Fannie and Freddie’s reckless decisions played in the financial meltdown. This intentional omission is a sure way to guarantee more bailouts in the future.

“House Republicans introduced a better solution last year that protects consumers and ends the bailouts for everyone, including Fannie and Freddie. The too-big-to-fail guarantee that allowed their irresponsible decisions to tank our economy must come to an end.” ###

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 4.21.2010