Lloyd Bentsen: “I rise today, along with the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Baker), the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kanjorski), and…”

“I rise today, along with the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Baker), the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kanjorski), and the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney), to introduce legislation that will provide a mandatory funding stream for the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, the Federal safety and soundness regulator for the housing government-sponsored enterprises. Like that of other financial market regulators, I believe that there is a real need for this reform legislation because under current law, OFHEO's budget is subject to the annual appropriations process. OFHEO is the financial safety and soundness regulator for the two housing government-sponsored enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These enterprises are two of the largest nonbank financial companies in the world. At the end of 1992, the GSEs' portfolio held 19 percent of loans on their books and 81 percent in the form of mortgage-backed securities. By March 2002, the housing GSEs held 43 percent of their assets on their books. As the Nation's mortgage markets have expanded, so too have the positions held directly by the GSEs, thus increasing the need to manage risk.”