Brit Hume covered this story on Sept 23 and came to the same conclusion as we did here at IUSB Vision.
The Republicans, in a bill co-sponsored by John McCain, tried to change the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac oversight regulations to those that are used by bank regulators. The bill to change the oversight rules was eek-ed by the Senate Committee in a party line vote with Democrats against it, but since Democrats were filibustering most significant legislation they didn’t like the Republicans did not have the 60 votes to pass it. Not one Democrat would budge.
Editors note: a reader (see below) commented that he takes issue with the paragraph above about the Democrats filibustering all significant legislation they didn’t like in the Senate to stop provisions they opposed.
We could write a new article presenting a list of legislation and amendments that was stopped because the Democrats were stopping cloture constantly by abusing the filibuster rule. It is a VERY long list. Remember the judicial nominees that were blocked for months and months and some never got a vote… etc…
Some partisans may not like it but the statement above is essentially true.
Examining the inverse – should I say that the Democrats were voting for and or making sure that they were not filibustering legislation that they didn’t like?? – Editor]
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae answer to the banking committee’s in Congress – NOT the Treasury Dept, and are monitored by a small agency called OFHEO to report to the committee’s, so Congress KNEW this was coming and have for years as we have covered HERE, HERE and HERE.
Alan Greenspan testified in favor of the reforms (transcript HERE and HERE) and warned:
If we fail to strengthen GSE regulation, we increase the possibility of insolvency and crisis. … As I concluded last year, the GSEs need a regulator with authority on a par with banking regulators, with a free hand to set appropriate capital standards, and with a clear and credible process sanctioned by the Congress for placing a GSE in receivership, where the conditions under which debt holders take losses are made clear.
Hotair.com has the following commentary:
By special request of Ace. Nothing here you haven’t read and/or heard before, but Fox deserves a little publicity for being willing to challenge the narrative. Especially now that we’re about to be told it’s McCain’s campaign manager and his lobbyist pals, not the Democrats they lobbied who actually cast the votes, who are the real culprits in all this. The FBI: Doing the (after-the-fact) oversight job Congress wouldn’t.
UPDATE: Bloomberg News covered the story and gives similar information.
UPDATE II:Fox updated the story and has a devastating new report. The Report mirrors the investigation IUSB Vision Published HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. Hotair.com comments on this new report from Fox HERE.
Every facet of the mortgage crisis story, who benefited and who is lying can be found HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. – Editor