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- After 12 years of Republican control, the Republicans failed to enact meaningful reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
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- In 1994 the Democratic Congress passed the Home Ownership & Equity Protection Act (HOEPA).
- That law included a host of consumer protections for high-cost mortgages and specifically required that the Federal Reserve issue rules to stop abusive lending practices.
- During the 12 years of Republican control – which included the subprime housing bubble at the heart of our current economic crisis – no regulation was ever enacted under that authority.
- Former Fed Chairman Greenspan was asked numerous times to issue rules (including internally by Former Governor Ed Gramlich) but refused on ideological grounds.
- Republican ideologues have long thwarted mortgage and consumer protection.
- Only after the Democrats took control of the Congress and initiated specific legislative reforms (H.R. 3915) did Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke finally issue regulations under the very authority they have had since 1994.
The Truth versus the Republicans on the Regulation of Subprime Mortgages and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
The Homeownership & Equity Protection Act
Reform of Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac
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