Barney Frank: “I appreciate the revised view of history itself. For some time, my Republican colleagues have been trying to blame those…”

“I appreciate the revised view of history itself. For some time, my Republican colleagues have been trying to blame those of us who try to expand housing, decent housing for lower-income people, for the crisis, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I think the record is very clear. Twelve years of Republican rule, no bill became law to change Fannie and Freddie Mac's operation. George Bush in 2004--not ancient history--expands, by his mandate, the number of low-income loans that they have to purchase, loans from low-income people. That is why we have the debt. That is why this is relevant. The Democrats take power in 2007 and, working with Secretary Paulson, as he documents in his book--and he notes, by the way, that some Republicans were mad at him for working with us. But the result was a good bill that allowed him to put Fannie and Freddie into conservatorship. And, post-conservatorship, we have not had the problems. If you abolish Fannie and Freddie tomorrow, you wouldn't save a penny because we would still have the debts that accrued when it was run previously, an unreformed Fannie and Freddie--unreformed because the Republicans wouldn't touch it, unreformed probably because President Bush pushed them into more loans. To talk about what you do in the future you have to understand the source of the problem; that's what we get in history. So Fannie and Freddie have been drastically changed and they are in conservatorship.”