In Brief: Meeting on Bill To Overhaul GSEs

WASHINGTON - Rep. Richard Baker, chairman of the House Banking capital markets subcommittee, plans to hold a public meeting Sept. 6 to discuss counterproposals to his bill that would overhaul federal supervision of Fannie Mae and other government-sponsored enterprises.

Written comments on the bill from Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan, the FM Watch coalition of banks and other financial services companies that support Rep. Baker's efforts, and others will be discussed. Rep. Baker may release some of those letters this week in advance of the meeting.

FM Watch officials released a copy of their comments on Tuesday. Their letter calls for a strong regulator for government-sponsored enterprises, mandatory acceptance of competitive automated underwriting systems, tougher requirements for approval of GSE programs, and a review of GSEs' debt-to-capital ratios.

Rep. Baker's bill would put oversight of the government-sponsored enterprises in the hands of a new, more powerful agency, combining oversight that now is spread among the Federal Housing Finance Board, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. The bill also would repeal the $2.25 billion Treasury Department lines of credit for Fannie and Freddie Mac and the $4 billion line for the Home Loan banks.

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