Hagan Camp to Dole: You Had the Chance to Vote for a Bipartisan Bill Regulating Fannie/Freddie

September 24, 2008

GREENSBORO, NC- While Wall Street crumbles and Main Street pays the price, Elizabeth Dole has been forced to respond to the criticism that she’s been ineffective throughout her six years in the U.S. Senate, particularly while she’s been silent at more than 60 Banking Committee meetings. Dole often refers to her efforts supporting bills regarding the regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but when she had the chance to support a bipartisan measure she choose party over people and helped kill the bill instead.

“It truly speaks to her ineffectiveness, and Elizabeth Dole’s proclivity to play partisan politics rather than buckle down and get the work done for her constituents,” said Hagan Campaign Communications Director Colleen Flanagan. “She can sign her name on bills until she’s blue in the face, but if they didn’t go anywhere – that is, if she was unable to work across party lines, garner support for the measures, compromise and ensure their passage – it’s really no different than total inaction. As Congressman David Price said when endorsing Kay, ‘We need a workhorse, not a show horse,’ and North Carolinians can’t afford six more years of a work ethic that only lends itself to blind support of ineffective, partisan legislation.”

Elizabeth Dole was unwilling to take the lead in introducing the bills she refers to regarding the regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and not one of those bills ever saw the light of day on the floor of the U.S. Senate, including when her own party had control of the chamber. Additionally, she was either never able or never willing to garner the support of more than four senators for the legislation, and each of those senators were from her own party. This was even the case for the two sessions when the Republicans controlled the Banking Committee and the U.S. Senate.

In addition, in 2005, Dole voted against a bipartisan housing reform bill, which would have created a “stronger regulator with new powers” for Fannie and Freddie, choosing to side with “ideologues in the Bush White House” instead. A similar bill passed the House of Representatives overwhelmingly, with 331 votes, including 122 from Republicans. Instead, Dole voted for a Republican-backed measure which passed on a party line vote, knowing that in all likelihood, the measure would not have the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster in the full U.S. Senate.

“When she had the chance to support a bipartisan measure that could have gotten a fair hearing from the full U.S. Senate, she decided to choose party over people and kill the bill instead,” Flanagan said. “Dole’s further insistence that she was paying attention to this crisis by pointing to three bills that she didn’t introduce and that didn’t go anywhere is an insult the people she represents, and the people who are paying the price now for her inaction.”

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Dole Couldn’t Or Wouldn’t Garner Bipartisan Support For Freddie & Fannie Regulation Bill. Although Elizabeth Dole co-sponsored three bills to address the regulation of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, she was either never able or willing to garner the support of more than four Senators from her own party for the legislation. Even though her own party controlled the Senate for two of the three sessions that she was a co-sponsor to the legislation, she was either never able or willing to garner enough support for the legislation for it to be considered on the floor of the entire Senate. [S. 1508, Introduced 7/31/03; S. 190, Introduced 1/26/05; S. 1100, Introduced 4/12/07]

Dole Didn’t Back Bipartisan Housing Reform In 2005, Sided With Ideologues Instead. In 2005, the House of Representatives passed the Federal Housing Finance Reform Act, which “would have created a stronger regulator with new powers to increased capital at Fannie and Freddie, to limit their portfolios and to deal with the possibility of receivership,” according to the Financial Times. The act passed with 331 votes, including 209 Republicans and 122 Democrats voting in favor of the legislation. The bill was referred to the Senate Banking Committee, of which Dole was a member. [Roll Call 547, 10/26/05; Financial Times, 9/9/08]

In 2005, Dole Voted Against Housing Reform That Strengthened Affordable Housing Requirements. On July 28, 2005, Dole voted against an amendment in the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee that was very similar to the bipartisan housing reform legislation that the House overwhelming passed later in the year. Every Republican member of the committee voted against the legislation, but instead supported a Republican version of the bill, which, according to Democrats, “didn’t go far enough in strengthening the companies’ affordable housing requirements,” reported the Associated Press. [CQ Committee Coverage, 7/28/05; Associated Press, 7/29/05]

Republican Lawmaker Blamed Bush & Ideologues For Lack Of Oversight At Freddie & Fannie. Former Republican Congressman Mike Oxley, who chaired the House Financial Services Committee at the time, blamed the lack of oversight at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae on “ideologues within the White House,” according to the Financial Times. Oxley helped pass the 2005 housing reform bill in the House of Representatives that 331 Congressman, including 209 Republicans and 122 Democrats, voted for. He said, “All the handwringing and bedwetting is going on without remembering how the House stepped up on this. What did we get from the White House? We got a one-finger salute…We missed a golden opportunity that would have avoided a lot of the problems we’re facing now, if we hadn’t had such a firm ideological position at the White House and the Treasury and the Fed.” [Roll Call 547, 10/26/05; Financial Times, 9/9/08]

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