Senators Introduce Bill to Pay GSE Execs Federal Salaries

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle introduced legislation Thursday to curb multibillion-dollar bonuses for senior-level executives with ""Fannie Mae"":http://www.fanniemae.com/portal/index.html and ""Freddie Mac"":http://www.freddiemac.com/.

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Sens. ""Mark Begich"":http://begich.senate.gov/public/ (D-Alaska) and ""John Thune"":http://thune.senate.gov/public/ (R-South Dakota) sponsored the bill, colorfully titled the Stop the Outrageous Pay at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (STOP) Act.

The bill would assign federal pay scale to employees with either of the GSEs, capping the highest salaries at $275,000.

""Our goal is to make sure the reckless and outrageous bonuses issued to Fannie and Freddie execs last year are never repeated and remain a history lesson on abuse of taxpayer money,"" Begich said in a statement, adding that ""those executives should not be living like fat cats while many Alaskans and other Americans are struggling to pay their bills, send their kids to college, and make the mortgage payment.""

""It is unbelievable that Congress needs to step in and end these

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outrageous salaries for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives,"" Thune added. ""The American taxpayers have already bailed out these agencies to the tune of over $150 billion and should not be on the hook for millions of dollars in exorbitant salaries.""

The bill ends any future bonuses for GSE executives this year and seeks to repurpose any such funds to tamp down the national debt.

It also tasks the ""Federal Housing Finance Agency"":http://www.fhfa.gov/ (FHFA) with making public any salaries disbursed to employees with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac without compromising identity or privacy.

The STOP Act is the second to arrive in Congress in recent months. The ""House Financial Services Committee"":http://financialservices.house.gov/ passed their own measure last fall to crack down on multibillion dollar bonuses paid out to Fannie Mae CEO Michael Williams and Freddie Mac CEO Charles ""Ed"" Haldeman.

News that the CEOs and eight other senior-level executives would walk away with $13 million in bonuses last year led to volleys of criticism from lawmakers from both parties.

FHFA Acting Director ""Edward DeMarco"":http://www.fhfa.gov/Default.aspx?Page=67 memorably appeared beside Haldeman and Williams to testify before the financial services committee in November, with the former defending bonuses for their roles in recruiting and retaining private-sector talent to oversee the mortgage giants.

For their parts, both Haldeman and Williams announced their resignations nearly in tandem with the outcry. The two are set to depart from their roles at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, respectively, once their boards select new chief executives.