WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, issued the following statement in response to a recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report which found that allowing Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to retain some of their profits and increase their equity capital could increase the risk to taxpayers by up to $100 billion over ten years:

“The report on recapitalizing Fannie and Freddie from the nonpartisan CBO reinforces how misguided the policy would be, adding another $100 billion to the debt without any concurrent benefits to taxpayers,” said Sen. Warner. “Congress must enact comprehensive housing finance reform that protects access to affordable housing without exposing taxpayers to inappropriate risk.”

Sen. Warner was the lead co-sponsor with U.S. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) of the bipartisan Housing Finance Reform and Taxpayer Protection Act, which would have created an explicit government guarantee and preserve the 30-year mortgage, while requiring private capital to stand in front of the government to minimize taxpayer risk.

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