Barney Frank: “First, to underline it, under authority that the Bush administration asked for and didn't get until the Democrats took…”

“First, to underline it, under authority that the Bush administration asked for and didn't get until the Democrats took over Congress, Fannie and Freddie were put into conservatorship. That's a very drastic reform of where they were. The $145 billion that, regrettably, is being lost was lost before the conservatorship. We put an end to those losses. And that's the current testimony of Secretary Donovan. And then as to compensation, I welcome my friend from West Virginia, belatedly, to the cause of limiting the compensation. Because the Committee on Financial Services put a bill out to specifically limit the compensation of the GSEs. We had general compensation limitations for TARP recipients, but we had one that would have limited GSE recipients, as well. And the gentlewoman from West Virginia voted against it, as did most of the Republicans. So we had a general compensation restriction, and we had one for--I take it back. It was any recipients of government aid, including the GSEs and the TARP recipients. And the Republican Party voted 'no.' So they are now opposed to raises which they refused to vote to block. That's the pattern. And I stress again, Fannie and Freddie have already been drastically reformed. They are in conservatorship. That is a very significant form of limitation. They are not being run remotely the way they were in the past when the Bush administration and others pushed them into buying too many loans from low-income people.”