Here is the Federal Housing Finance Agency's ("FHFA") testimony made to Congress on May 25 in which Acting Director Edward Demarco states that the agency is against House Bill H.R. 463 which would impose the FOIA on Government Sponsored Enterprises ("GSE") Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
A spokesperson at FHFA told me that the position is that of the agency and not of the administration. He also stated that the opposition is for a number of reasons, some of which are in the testimony. According to FHFA, the legislation is not clear as to how the FOIA's exemptions would apply to Fannie and Freddie. Further, FHFA believes that the two companies are solely private companies and placing them under the FOIA would be unprecedented. FHFA does not believe that the core purpose of the FOIA would be furthered by placing the provisions of the FOIA on Freddie and Fannie.
It appears that FHFA does not place any difference in a private corporation and a GSE, which is the difference in this situation. The question that needs to be answered is what differences are there (and what differences should there be) from GSE's and totally private corporations in their accountability to the tax paying public? Would a specific transparency requirement that is similar to the FOIA but written specifically for these GSE's meet the FHFA's concerns?
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