Far, far away

2 March 2011 By Richard Beales Follow @richardbeales1

U.S. financial reform architect Barney Frank sees signs of consensus with Republicans on reducing the government’s role in mortgage finance. But the GOP’s former enthusiasm for major reform looks to be waning. Delay and dilution make it more likely taxpayers remain on the hook.

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Barney Frank, the Democratic congressman who cosponsored the DoddFrank U.S. financial reform law passed last year, on March 2 told the Reuters Summit on the Future Face of Finance that he believed there was bipartisan consensus on the need to reform mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac but retain some kind of continuing government role in the nation's mortgage market.

But he chided GOP lawmakers for their campaign rhetoric about the urgency of reform when now they appear, according to Frank, to be deferring to President Barack Obama's administration for leadership.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on March 1 testified before the House Financial Services Committee on the three options the administration previously laid out. He noted, however, that when it came to acting on the issue, "haste would be counterproductive".

Scott Garrett, who chairs the House panel overseeing Fannie and Freddie, on Feb. 28 told the Summit he expected his newly empowered Republican colleagues to approve a measure overhauling the GovernmentSponsored Enterprises by the end of 2011 though he said Senate action thereafter was less certain.

Jeb Hensarling, the fourthhighest ranked Republican in the House, told the Summit he plans to reintroduce legislation in weeks or months that would wind down Fannie and Freddie within five years.

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