Legislators seek to cut salaries of Fannie, Freddie execs

U.S. lawmakers are seeking to cut the salaries of executives at government-run mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Wall Street Journal reported, because of the firms’ continued losses. Fannie and Freddie’s top executives received nearly $13 million in cash bonuses at the start of the year despite being bailed out by the government three years ago, and costing taxpayers $151 billion.

Sen. John McCain said it was “outrageous [for executives to] expect multimillion-dollar bonuses,” given the size of the rescue.
The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Spencer Bachus, added that his committee would consider a bill to suspend compensation packages for top executives.

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Edward DeMarco
, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, defended the salaries, telling legislators last week that when executives depart Fannie and Freddie, “We seek in every instance to be bringing in new executives at lower compensation than their predecessors.” [WSJ]