) introduced their version of the Housing Finance Reform and Taxpayer Protection Act of 2014 (S. 1217).
November 16, 2014: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced $6 billion dollar profit in third quarter earnings. In total, Fannie Mae has repaid the federal government $134.5 billion on a $116.1 billion loan. Freddie Mac has repaid the federal government $91 billion on a $71.3 billion loan.
February 4, 2016 – Representative Stephen Fincher (R-TN) and Office of Management and Budget Director designate, Representative Mick Mulvaney (R-SC), send a letter to then-Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and FHFA Director Mel Watt highlighting the risks posed to taxpayers by the ongoing Net Worth Sweep. (Rep. Stephen Fincher and Rep. Mick Mulvaney letter to Secretary Jacob Lew and Director Melvin Watt, 2/4/16)
February 12, 2016 – President Obama’s FY 2017 budget proposal accounts for GSE revenues through 2027. (“Final Obama Budget Banks of Fannie and Freddie for Years to Come,” Investors Unite (2/12/16)
February 18, 2016 – On the same day that Freddie Mac announced a $2.2 billion profit for Q4 2015, Mel Watt expressed alarm about the GSEs dwindling capital buffers – a direct result of the Net Worth Sweep – during remarks at the Bipartisan Policy Center. (Melvin L. Watt, “Prepared Remarks of Melvin L. Watt Director of FHFA at the Bipartisan Policy Center,” Federal Housing Finance Agency, 2/18/16)
March 14, 2016 – Investors Unite publishes FHFA and Treasury privilege logs. The logs, which are roughly 1,200 pages in length themselves, detail the roughly 180,000 pages of documents regarding the government’s rational for enacting the Net Worth Sweep, which it is seeking to withhold from the public. (“Government Privilege Logs,” Fannie Freddie Secrets)
April 13, 2016 – Unsealed documents show that government officials anticipated the GSEs’ return to sustained profitability, and knew that the entities were not in a “death spiral,” before implementing the Net Worth Sweep in 2012. (“Unsealed Documents – April 13, 2016,” Fannie Freddie Secrets)
April 15, 2016 – Oral arguments presented in appeal of Lamberth ruling.
May 23, 2016 – Investors Unite launches FannieFreddieSecrets.org
June 2, 2016 – US Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation rejects FHFA motion to consolidate GSE shareholder lawsuits.
June 10, 2016 – The Obama Administration officially invokes “Presidential Communications Privilege” over four documents in an attempt to obfuscate the government’s rationale in enacting the Net Worth Sweep. (Fairholme Funds v. United States, Fed. Cir. 6/10/16)
June 22, 2016 – Unsealed documents reveal that the Net Worth Sweep was contemplated for months by Treasury and Administration officials as a means of reaching the Administration’s goal of winding down the GSEs. (“Unsealed Documents – June 22, 2016,” Fannie Freddie Secrets)
July 11, 2016 – Investors Unite Survey conducted by Schoen Consulting finds that most Americans support Fannie and Freddie, and that plurality of likely voters believe that the Net Worth Sweep is a violation of shareholders’ rights. (Douglas E. Schoen, “Housing Access Polling” 7/12/16)
August 2, 2016 – Unsealed documents in the Federal Court of Claims reveal the outsized role Treasury played in governing the GSEs since the beginning of the conservatorship, in violation of HERA’s mandate that FHFA act independently. (“Unsealed Documents – August 2, 2016,” Fannie Freddie Secrets)
September 20, 2016 – Judge Sweeney issued her ruling which rejected government claims of privilege over 58 documents, which she reviewed “in camera.” (Fairholme v. United States, Fed. Cir. 9/20/16)
October 20, 2016 – Congressional Budget Office report highlights the benefits of allowing the GSEs to retain capital. (“The Effects of Increasing Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s Capital,” Congressional Budget Office, 10/20/16)
November 30, 2016 – Treasury Secretary Designate Steve Mnuchin calls ending the conservatorship a “top ten priority” for the incoming Trump Administration. (Richard Leong and Patrick Rucker, “U.S. should cede control of Fannie and Freddie: Mnu