Monday, July 14, 2008

Garrett Chatting GSEs on PBS

Representative Scott Garrett was on The NewsHour tonight with Representative Barney Frank talking about the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issue. You can read the transcript here or download the MP3 podcast here.

As I mentioned he'd be likely and able to do, Garrett established his long opposition to the GSEs:
Well, times certainly have changed, but the systemic problem with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have not changed.

And that's why, ever since I came to Congress five years ago, I said we have created an institution here that basically has no limits, but has the implicit guarantee of the federal government.

And now we see it has come to pass that it has grown beyond any one's imagination when it was first created and has grown without any regulatory oversight and placed enough, sufficient enough to get the job done.

This may be the first time since I've been following Garrett that you've openly seen him call for more government regulation of anything.

In a statement released by Garrett's office, there's a certain jarring juxtaposition of this reality:
Excessive government intervention helped create the problems we now face with GSEs, we need to try something different. We need to immediately pass strong GSE reform legislation and create a world-class regulator that can restore confidence in the financial markets and has the capability to ensure that the American taxpayers are not left paying the check for Fannie and Freddie.

It lets you know how serious the problem is when Garrett, as one of the most anti-regulation members of Congress, is calling for regulation. However, as Rep. Frank points out, Garrett will probably vote against the bill again due to the inclusion of the Affordable Housing Trust fund.

No comments: