On the recordDecember 17, 2015
as we continue consideration of the omnibus, I rise today to applaud the inclusion of language I coauthored with Senator Mark Warner that will ensure that the fate of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac--entities Congress created--will be determined by Congress, and this language makes crystal clear that this body does not support efforts to return to the failed model of private gains and public losses. As we wrap up our legislative business of 2015, I am also here to remind my colleagues that there is much work to be done in the new year to finally address the last unfinished business of the 2008 financial crisis. Prior to the crisis, mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were publicly traded. They benefited from an implicit government guarantee, which meant any upside went to the company. But as we saw at the height of the financial crisis, the downside of that structure fell on the taxpayers and it fell hard. In September of 2008, because of this flawed model, losses mounted at Fannie and Freddie, causing taxpayers to write a $188 billion bailout check to keep them afloat. These entities remain in government conservatorship today, backed by the taxpayers and owned by the U.S. Treasury Department. A 2014 Federal Housing Finance Agency stress test projected that the GSEs could require a $190 billion taxpayer bailout to keep them afloat during a future crisis--something none of us wants to see happen.…
