H.R. 2440 (112th): Market Transparency and Taxpayer Protection Act of 2011

Introduced:
Jul 07, 2011 (112th Congress, 2011–2013)
Sponsor:
Rep. Robert Hurt [R-VA5]
Status:
Died (Referred to Committee)

The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.

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Status

This bill was introduced on July 7, 2011, in a previous session of Congress, but was not enacted.

Progress
Introduced May 25, 2011
Referred to Committee Jul 07, 2011
Cosponsors
3 cosponsors (3R) (show)
Committees

House Financial Services

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Full Title

To protect the taxpayers of the United States by requiring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to sell or dispose of the assets of such enterprises that are not critical to their missions.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

Read Bill Text »

Last updated Jul 07, 2011.
6 pages

Primary Source

View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)

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Citation

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GovTrack’s Bill Summary

We don’t have a summary available yet.

Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

7/7/2011--Introduced.
Market Transparency and Taxpayer Protection Act of 2011 - Directs the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency to require the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) (government-sponsored enterprises or GSEs) to identify to the Director all assets of value of the GSE and their functions, characteristics, and estimated value.
Requires the Director then to:
(1) determine which assets are critical, and which are not critical, to carrying out the GSE's mission; and
(2) establish plans annually for the sale or other disposition of any non-mission critical assets.

House Republican Conference Summary

The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

This summary can be found at http://www.gop.gov/bill/112/2/hr2440.

Background

This legislation is intended to reduce the government’s role in the mortgage market by shrinking outsized role the GSEs play in the mortgage market, which was a major cause of the financial crisis in 2008.

Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-AL) said of the bill, “Fannie and Freddie continue to report losses and rely on taxpayer dollars in order to continue operating. As a result, they represent the largest taxpayer-funded bailout so far. Selling assets that have nothing to do with the mission of these two companies is critical to protecting taxpayers from wasteful spending, and ensuring that Fannie and Freddie engage only in activities related to their mission.”

As the first two companies to receive a direct taxpayer bailout, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have since cost taxpayers almost $200 billion.  In 2010, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration guaranteed more than 90 percent of new mortgages.

Summary

H.R. 2440 would direct the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director to require the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to dispose of all non-mission critical assets. 

The Director would be required to make a determination of which assets are mission critical based on respective reports submitted by the enterprises under the provisions of the bill.

The bill would prohibit the enterprises from owning or holding any non-mission critical assets beyond a 36-month period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act.

 

Cost

There was no Congressional Budget Office (CBO) cost estimate available for this bill.

House Democratic Caucus Summary

The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.

So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.

We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.

The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:

United States Code

The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)