Senator calls for investigation into Fannie, Freddie

The head of the Senate Banking Committee is calling for federal agencies to investigate Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the organization that oversees them

The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee is calling for an investigation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) has requested that the Government Accountability Office and the Congressional Budget Office investigate the practices at Fannie and Freddie, as well as the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees the government-sponsored enterprises, according to a report in the Morning Consult.

In a letter to U.S. Comptroller Gene Dodaro, who heads up the GAO, Shelby asked for a report on how the FHFA’s actions could influence “the enterprises’ dominance in residential mortgage markets,” as well as the agency’s “current and future financial demands on the Treasury.”

He also made a separate request to the CBO for a study into the government’s conservatorship of the GSEs, according to Morning Consult.

“Congress has a responsibility to conduct proper oversight over both the FHFA and the GSEs,” Shelby said in a statement. “It is my hope that GAO and CBO will provide the committee with meaningful data regarding the market impact of FHFA’s decisions to ensure that Congress takes steps to protect American taxpayers from risk.”