WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The Financial Services Committee Tuesday approved a bill to stop future bonuses at mortgage giants Fannie Mae (FNMA.OB) and Freddie Mac (FMCC.OB) and suspend the current hefty compensation packages for their top executives. The bill, authored by committee chairman Spencer Bachus, was voted 52 to 4.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency had announced early this month that the chief executive officers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac received $5.6 million and $5.4 million, respectively, in compensation. Under the bill, the top executives of Fannie and Freddie could only have earned $218,978 this year.
As per H.R. 1221, the Equity in Government Compensation Act, executives and employees of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will receive compensation in line with pay practices at federal financial regulatory agencies. While the bill does not make them Federal employees, it aligns their compensation with that of Federal employees.
Since their bailout Fannie and Freddie have received $170 billion in taxpayer dollars. 'The taxpayer-funded bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is the biggest bailout in history. Adding insult to injury, the top executives of these failed companies receive multi-million dollar pay packages, all courtesy of American taxpayers who are having a difficult time making ends meet these days. These lavish compensation packages and bonuses are unfair, unreasonable and unjust to the taxpayers whose assistance is the only thing keeping Fannie and Freddie afloat,' said Chairman Bachus.
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