Rep. Frank: Predatory lending, GSE reform top priorities

Look for the incoming chairman of the Housing Financial Services Committee, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts), to make good on his promise to get the government "back into the housing business" when the 110th Congress commences.

Chairman-elect Frank told reporters during a December press briefing

However, Frank warned, the committee will likely have to wait several weeks before it can begin to check off that list in earnest, as incoming Speaker of the House-designate Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-California) has reserved the agenda for the big-ticket issues, including the minimum wage and health-care issues.

"During the first month or so of the new Congress is one where we [the com mitteej won't be playing a major role," said Frank, noting it would be February at the earliest before the committee engages in significant action.

Frank said he considered a predatory lending bill a "high priority." He said he could support a bill with a uniform national standard, provided it came with a strong consumer-protection component.

Frank also said he will push for reform of the Federal Housing Adminis tration (FHA). An FHA reform bill passed by a wide bipartisan majority during the 109th Congress, but got bogged down in the Senate.

On reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Frank said he prefers strengthening the existing regulator-the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO)-rather than creating a new regulator.

Frank is not in favor of setting caps on the GSE investment portfolios, which would impede Fannie and Freddie's congressionally mandated mission to finance affordable housing for low-income families. Instead, he favors the regulator having the power to set limits in the event of financial risk.

On data privacy, Frank said he would propose to Pelosi that she designate a task force consisting of the relevant committees-including the Financial Services Committee and the Ways and Means Committee, among others-to collaborate in order to "harmonize the process" and to create a single data-privacy bill representative of all sides.

"I do think there's going to be a data-privacy bill, and I think it's going to be something that we do on a bipartisan basis," said Frank.

Frank also told reporters he supports an extension of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Extension Act of 2005 (TRIEA), which is due to expire at the end of 2007.

Just as with the original Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (TRIA), which expired at the end of 2005, TRIEA is designed to keep a temporary federal terrorism-insurance mechanism in place through the end of 2007 until a permanent solution is crafted.

During questioning, Frank did not commit to a permanent federal insurance backstop, but he said he could see one in "maybe another five years."