In the News
By Stacy Kaper
Of all the things missing from a House Financial Services Committee hearing on the inconclusive Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission report on the causes of the financial meltdown, the most obvious was any sense of irony.
Lawmakers' chief criticism of the report — that it broke down into a partisan skirmish with a fractured and confusing narrative about the causes of the crisis — was only mimicked and amplified by their own behavior.
Republicans criticized a government report on the causes of the 2008 financial crisis as biased and political on Wednesday. Democrats fired back that Republicans want to roll back federal regulations of the financial industry.
by Peter Schroeder
A hearing intended to explore the underpinnings of the financial crisis provided a fresh opportunity for lawmakers to fight ongoing partisan battles.
Six of the ten members of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) appeared before the House Financial Services Committee Wednesday to discuss the panel's report, which marks the first official governmental take on the financial crisis that drove the recession.
by Sewell Chan
The government inquiry into the causes of the 2008 financial crisis was the focus of intense partisan bickering Wednesday at a House hearing.
Republicans called the final 545-page report a political exercise whose findings were mostly preordained, while Democrats defended its main conclusion: that Wall Street risk-taking and regulatory negligence combined to produce an avoidable disaster.
Seeking to assuage corporate executives, top U.S. regulators on Tuesday insisted that expected rules on holding collateral, or margin, will focus on financial institutions, rather than commercial companies worried about new costs that could limit their hedging activities.
"Proposed rules on margin requirements should focus only on transactions between financial entities rather than those transactions that involve non-financial end-users," said Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler at a Capitol Hill hearing on the $600 trillion derivatives market.
by Shahien Nasiripour
The Obama administration outlined three options Friday to change the way home loans are financed, calling for the slow death of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and jumpstarting the debate over the future role of government in helping borrowers secure mortgages.
If implemented, the proposals would likely make it more expensive for borrowers to buy a home and thus restrict the availability of mortgages. It also marks a significant departure from past government policies, which treated homeownership in America as a virtual right.
by Phil Mattingly
Congressional Republicans criticized what they termed a lack of detail in the Treasury Department's plan to overhaul mortgage finance while saying they would use the report as a starting point for debate over legislation.
The proposal delivered to Congress today by Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and Shaun Donovan, the secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, would have the government shrink "and ultimately wind down" mortgage firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under three possible scenarios.
by Zachary A. Goldfarb & Brady Dennis
The Obama administration's plan to overhaul the U.S. housing market drew fire Friday from some of the president's traditional allies, who argued that proposals in the newly released report could make it too costly for many Americans to buy a home.
But while consumer and civil rights groups broke with President Obama over the long-awaited white paper, the plan met with little objection - and even praise - from Republicans, who have pilloried the administration over its housing policies.
by Ron Orol
The White House may move ahead without congressional approval on proposals to reform the government-controlled housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, including raising the fees charged for guaranteeing credit risk.