Fannie Mae Curries CongressionalFavor

WASHINGTON - (11/02/04) -- Secondary mortgage market giantFannie Mae, fighting off congressional attacks over the last year,has used its newly formed political action committee to pourhundreds of thousands of dollars of contributions into the campaignfunds of key congressional leaders. In just the last eight month,Fannie Mae's new PAC has made more than $150,000 in contributionsto top congressional leaders, than at least as much again to thosekey lawmakers' leadership PACs, according to records filed with theFederal Elections Commission, reviewed by The Credit union Journal.Since February, campaign contributions went to: Keep Our MajorityPAC (House Speaker Dennis Hastert) $5,000; Americans for aRepublican Majority PAC (House Majority Leader Tom DeLay), $5,000;Rely on Your Beliefs Fund (House Majority Whip Roy Blunt) $5,000;Volunteer PAC (Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist) $5,000; DefendAmerica PAC (Senate Banking Chairman Richard Shelby), $5,000;Leadership PAC 2004 (House Financial Services Chairman MichaelOxley ) $7,000; Growth and Prosperity PAC (House Financial ServicesSubcommittee Chairman Spencer Bachus) $5,000; PAC to the Future(House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi) $2,500; and AmeriPAC (HouseMinority Whip Steny Hoyer), $5,000, among others. Leadership PACsallow interests like Fannie Mae to contribute the maximum allowable$10,000 to an individual lawmaker's campaign fund, then again tohis or her leadership PAC, which that lawmaker can use for a widevariety of purposes, including contributions to alliedcandidates.