WASHINGTON, March 11 (UPI) -- A housing reform deal, including the overhaul of mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has been reached, Senate Banking Committee leaders said Tuesday.
Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-S.D., and ranking member Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, said the plan borrows from a number of bipartisan ideas.
"There is near unanimous agreement that our current housing finance system is not sustainable in the long-term, and reform is necessary to help strengthen and stabilize the economy," Johnson said.
The plan calls for the eventual elimination of the two federal mortgage purchasers, and preservation of the 30-year fixed rate mortgage, initiatives designed to reduce the government's role in the mortgage market, the Washington newspaper the Hill reported Tuesday.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were put under government control during the 2008 economic crisis.
The proposed bill calls for transferring certain Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac functions to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Hill added.
