The claim:
“John McCain fought to rein in Fannie and Freddie . . . but Democrats blocked the reforms.” — John McCain on Tuesday in an advertisement
The facts:
Seeking to portray McCain as prescient on the financial crisis, his campaign unveiled an advertisement saying he had spotted problems with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac two years ago. The ad points to McCain’s support of a bill to strengthen oversight of Fannie and Freddie, private corporations created by Congress to lower the cost of mortgage capital.
McCain has taken heat for recent revelations that Freddie Mac paid a lobbying firm co-owned by his campaign manager, Rick Davis, $15,000 a month from 2005 through August 2008.
McCain did indeed co-sponsor the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005. “If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole,” he said in a statement when he signed onto the bill in 2006.
Others had been fighting for reform for more than a decade, and McCain signed onto the bill a year and a half after it was introduced. And he reportedly didn’t do too much for the bill beyond co-sponsoring it and issuing a statement. Did Democrats block the reforms? They preferred a pared-down bill and so did not support the one co-sponsored by McCain. McCain overstates his role and slightly oversimplifies the dynamic at work in the Senate.
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