The American Enterprise Institute opposed McCain's 2005 Reform of Fannie/Freddie.

[sinkingfeeling]

http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.22705/pub_detail.asp

"H.R. 1461: A GSE "Reform" That Is Worse than Current Law"

"HR 1461--a bill that was supposed to create a “world class regulator”--is in fact a world class failure. Not only does it fail to improve significantly upon the regulatory authority of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), but it actually increases the opportunities for Fannie and Freddie to exploit their subsidies in order to expand into other areas of residential finance."

H.R. 1461 was the House version of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005. It was introduced in the Senate as S. 190 and McSame finally co-sponsored it 16 months later, after it had failed to come to a vote by the Senate Banking Committee.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. I guess that means...

That Kevin Hassett is full of shit, huh? Mr. "Dow 32,000"?

As if we didn't know THAT already.

[DemoTex]

4. How the Democrats Created the Financial Crisis: Kevin Hassett (9/22/08)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aSKSoiNbnQY0

A steaming coil of cack from the AEI master scatologist Kevin Hassett (American Enterprise Institute).

[TahitiNut]

2. It's interesting that McCain became a cosponsor after it died in committee ... AND ...

... never became a cosponsor of "S. 1100: Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2007" which is the SAME legislation proposed by Sen. Chuck Hagel in the 110th Congress. S. 1100 is dying in committee as well, with three 'illustrious' cosponsors:
Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC)
Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL)
Sen. John Sununu (R-NH)

Apr 12, 2007: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

Read all about it ...
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-1100&tab=summary

IMHO, it's ACTUALLY more of a DEREGULATION bill than a RE-REGULATION bill. It effectively guts oversight.

[karynnj]

3. He sponsored it after it died in committee?

I wonder if he made an effort. The bill itself is at this link, near the bottom of the page http://banking.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Hearings.Detail&HearingID=d8e4490a-6237-482b-ad22-bb210cf2bba3

Unfortunately, unlike the more recent hearings there is no clickable video of the hearing.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. Here's the info.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:SN00190:@@@P

S.190
Title: A bill to address the regulation of secondary mortgage market enterprises, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen Hagel, Chuck (introduced 1/26/2005) Cosponsors (3)
Latest Major Action: 7/28/2005 Senate committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COSPONSORS(3), ALPHABETICAL : (Sort: by date)
Sen Dole, Elizabeth - 1/26/2005 Sen McCain, John - 5/25/2006
Sen Sununu, John E. - 1/26/2005

[karynnj]

6. I do see in the Congressional record

where Hagel asks that he be added. Also, this is the Senate speech he gave:

"Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, this week Fannie Mae's regulator reported that the company's quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few years were ``illusions deliberately and systematically created'' by the company's senior management, which resulted in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's report goes on to say that Fannie Mae employees deliberately and intentionally manipulated financial reports to hit earnings targets in order to trigger bonuses for senior executives. In the case of Franklin Raines, Fannie Mae's former chief executive officer, OFHEO's report shows that over half of Mr. Raines' compensation for the 6 years through 2003 was directly tied to meeting earnings targets. The report of financial misconduct at Fannie Mae echoes the deeply troubling $5 billion profit restatement at Freddie Mac.

The OFHEO report also states that Fannie Mae used its political power to lobby Congress in an effort to interfere with the regulator's examination of the company's accounting problems. This report comes some weeks after Freddie Mac paid a record $3.8 million fine in a settlement with the Federal Election Commission and restated lobbying disclosure reports from 2004 to 2005. These are entities that have demonstrated over and over again that they are deeply in need of reform.

For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac--known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs--and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO's report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO's report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay.

I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S . 190 , to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.

I urge my colleagues to support swift action on this GSE reform legislation. "

The odd think is that there after the committee meeting there is nothing I can find in the Senate reporting it out. I bet his people are going to pull out this speech - even though obviously there was no effort behind it.