WASHINGTON — A bill to overhaul mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac won approval Thursday from a divided Senate Banking Committee and moved on to an uncertain future.
On a 13-9 vote, the committee advanced a bipartisan compromise bill that experts welcomed as a real attempt to revamp mortgage finance and get Fannie and Freddie out of conservatorship. They’d be phased out and replaced by a government reinsurance program to backstop mortgage lending.
The legislation’s future is uncertain because it passed without enough votes to force a vote on the full floor of the Senate. Seven Republicans voted for the bill, which was crafted by the top committee leaders from each party, but six Democrats voted against it, concerned that the compromise would work against low-income homebuyers.
And the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, which passed a more radical bill almost a year ago, issued a statement effectively suggesting the Senate’s measure is dead on arrival there.