Since Sens. Warner and Bob Corker introduced their housing finance reform bill late last month, their plan to replace government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with a privately-capitalized system that preserves market liquidity and protects taxpayers has received praise from across the spectrum.

This week, two more widely-respected economic figures, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, commended the Senators for their efforts to move the GSE reform conversation forward.

Secretary Lew joined CNBC’s Steve Liesman to discuss the nation’s economic situation and his plans moving forward.  He indicated that Sens. Warner and Corker’s bipartisan proposal could be an important part of stabilizing and strengthening the housing finance market.

“The conversations that Senator Corker and Senator Warner are having are very important,” said Secretary Lew. “It is a serious bipartisan conversation.”

“I think there is a set of principles that are very important,” Secretary Lew continued. “We have to make sure that we never again end up with a failure like Fannie and Freddie with the taxpayers left holding the bag for an unbounded amount of risk.  We also need to make sure we have a private financing of mortgage market in this country that’s restored.  We have too little private financing of mortgages now. And third, we need to make sure that there’s access to credit for borrowers who are credit worthy, because owning a home is part of the American dream.”

“I think those are the general goals of Corker-Warner,” Lew concluded, “and I hope this bipartisan conversation can continue and be successful.”

Chairman Bernanke addressed the proposal in a Senate Banking Committee hearing on the economy and monetary policy. 

Asked by Committee Chairman Sen. Tim Johnson what he saw as the biggest threat to the housing market recovery, Chairman

Bernanke emphasized the necessity of “getting our housing institutions, our regulatory structure in working order.”

“I’m glad to see that the Congress is now looking at reforms of Fannie and Freddie, the mortgage securitization system…I think as there’s greater clarity about the rules of the game for mortgage making and mortgage securitization, that we’ll see less tightness in the market.”