S.Amdt. 2396

As folks working for you in Congress, we need to keep our elected officials accountable and make sure common-sense steps are taken before big financial moves are made. This amendment, submitted by Ms. Warren and Ms. Hirono, aims to add a strict prohibition to the bill.

What It Aims to Change or Add

Specifically, the amendment stops the Department of the Treasury from selling its share of senior preferred stocks in Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, either in whole or in part, until very specific homework is done first.

• The Comptroller General must finish a study looking at how ending the conservatorship or ending an explicit government guarantee for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would impact the cost of mortgage lending, homeownership, and multifamily housing development.
• The Comptroller General must present the findings of that study to Congress.
• The President must issue a public plan.
• The Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the four members of the Federal Housing Finance Oversight Board must testify on the President's plan before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the House Committee on Financial Services.

Furthermore, the amendment includes a clear rule stating that nothing in this section should be read as actually authorizing the Department of the Treasury to sell its shares.