our story deals with loans owned by freddie mac, guaranteed by freddie mac. the transactions we are talking about where loans were cut up, those were freddie mac boned loans -- owned loans. anyone around the world can buy mortgage bonds. if they fail and they are guaranteed by the government, the government makes good on the guarantees. i do not know if anybody has done the numbers on how many of the payouts have gone to foreign investors versus investors in this country. that is how is works -- it works. host: philadelphia on the democrats' line. caller: i want to know what is really being done. it sounds like freddie mac is still all right. guest: jesse eisenger, hinted that the after-effects of your story. long term, what might happen on capitol hill because of your story? guest: 1 is the fate of president obama's housing initiative, the things chris talk about. the second thing is, is grappling with how to resolve the entities. nobody wants conservatorship where we have freddie and fannie lost forever. that is untenable. there is a debate about what we sh

what has freddie mac said about just that key question? >> well, freddie mac has said that they're not going to comment on the inner workings of its portfolios. so they referred us, basically, to their regulator, which did issue a statement yesterday that was interesting in some ways, if you want to talk about that. >> tom: yeah, we'll quick. give us the idea. this is the federal housing administration regulator of fannie mae and freddie mac, both in conservatorship. did it defend the portfolio trades? >> one thing as a reporter you look for, nothing in the statement said that we had gotten any facts wrong. you also look-- did we get the story right? >> tom: did not quibble with the analysis. >> did not quibble with any of the facts in the story. i believe they were trying to say, look, we have a huge portfolio, hundreds of billions of dollars. these trades were only several billion dollars. but we're talking about $3.5 billion worth of trades tied to $20 billion worth of mortgages that involved tens of thousands of real homes and real hom

more money for freddie mac. host: chris arnold, is this a deliberate ploy by freddie mac to do this? guest: well, we are not alleging that freddie mac did anything illegal. nothing in our report turned that out. there is a fire wall between the investment side of the business and the side of the business that manages home policies. but at the same time, it is fair to ask the question. credit is being tightened and a lot of ways that some people think don't make sense. the federal reserve has raised questions at the same time that freddie mac is placing these target it bets, as jesse said, that pay off. this is sort of a leveraged, magnified way. this is important to understand. that's say that we loan you $100,000 to buy a house. traditionally, the way this works, if you refinance, you have 100,000 hours back. ok, we're not making 7% any more of you, but we have our money back and we can give somebody else the loan with that money. but freddie mac did is they sold off the right to collect the principal, the $100

freddie mac. was betting belly and of dollars on securities that profited when homeowners were denied it refinancing or retired marine art the los santos is one of those homeowners that freddie mac. bet against as our teaser ramona glinda shows us the last sound thousands fighting to keep his home with the help of some california occupiers. sharon comes over. i'm going to get arrested and and fight to land trying to save her house art the los santos is ready to stand up to the law and to wall street after repeatedly trying to modify their known the delos onto his family was a big did late last year a devastating blow for the family who have a decades worth of family memories in this house the kids have grown up here we've done modifications to the house we tile windows. define a court order art moved his family back in taking back the dream he feels was stolen art could potentially face arrest for reentry in the home where he has raised his four children but despite the risk the family is staying

the problem is if you happen to have a mortgage that isn't a fanny mae or a freddie mac or fha mortgage, you're out of luck, and you may be doing everything right, paying your bills, but you can't benefit from what are today record low interest rates. >> tom: secretary donovan, with just learned this week that freddie mac has financial positions that profit when homeowners stay in higher interest rate loans. will this practice continue, even under fha administration? >> well, first of all, i was, as you are, troubled by this information, and the treasury department is working with the regulator of fanny mae and freddie mac to make sure that she's extras are fully looked at, and that there's a full accounting of what actually happened here and that we make sure it doesn't happen going forward. one of the these these allegations point to is that congress should act and require that whatever cop flicks there may be, whatever other interests, homeowners who are doing the right thing paying their mortgages have the ability to refinance, fanny mae or freddie mac mortgages or other mortgages.

first, taxpayers paid $150 billion to bail out fannie mae and freddie mac. then you paid millions more in bonuses for the mortgage executives. it doesn't stop there. you won't believe what taxpayers are paying for. you are footing the bill for legal expenses and for former fannie mae and freddie mac executives and the bill was obscene. you have spent $50 million in legal fees. they are accused of cooking the books to scam you. why in the world are you paying their legal bills? liz mcdonald joins us. why are they paying this enormous legal bill for people being accused of scamming them to begin with? >> guest: because the watchdog of house and finance is essentially saying that fannie mae and freddie mac have contracts with these executives they can't break. you are right. these executives in prior years of securities and accounting fraud. these executives still face billions dollars worth of lawsuits where the legal fees are going to be racked up. hundred million plus in legal fees that the government has been paying for, fannie mae and freddie mac have been

and, you know, i think that at the time it was right about that time that the both freddie mac and fannie mae requested additional assistance from the federal government, and announced losses and it seemed to most people that if you were paying good people for performance that is one thing if they are getting bonuses, but when you are actually, the and organizations continue to lose money and require additional taxpayer assistance, that is not a time to pay out the excessive bonuses. this is in response to that, and i think that what we have heard from the people when that story broke, and that news got out was a lot of outrage, and it was justified. >> let me ask you about the support that you have or maybe trying to get. do you have bipartisan support for this legislation and will republicans and democrats sign on to this, and will it pass for the 60-plus votes necessary in the u.s. senate? >> we have bipartisan support, and it is a bill that both mark begich the senator from alaska and i have produce and we are paking up cosponsors on the order of 20 cosponsors at the moment both democ

well i'm sure they'll look into freddie mac. to placate people just like the attorney general here in california looked into the five biggest banks who committed fraud found to have found them to have committed fraud and then basically gave them a hand out and said all of those families that were the victims of fraud well doesn't really matter here's a few scraps from the table for you to be quiet i think that the u.s. government is so tied in with the banks that even tied in an equal basis but i would say the banks actually sit above the government are the ones that are really dictating domestic and foreign policy that absolutely no politician in washington is going to come out with anything strong against the banks it's going to be that people from below organizing to do like what was done today were banks were shut down all over los angeles where people took militant action to send a message to the banks that if they're not going to do anything to help working families if the government is going to do anything to help working

the bill -- and freddie mac act. our bill comes in the aftermath of a series of events that began last november when reports surfaced that the federal housing finance agency, fhfa, approved nearly $13 million in bonuses for ten executives at the enterprise -- that enterprise that supervises fannie mae and freddie mac. in response, senator thune and i spearheaded a bipartisan letter signed by 58 other senators to the fhfa acting director, edward demarco, and treasury secretary timothy geithner. we expressed outrage over these pay levels. almost three months after the letter was sent the pressure was on. government regulators were cutting the pay of executives they hired to replace the departing heads of fannie mae and freddie mac. also in response to our efforts, house finance services committee chairman spencer baccus introduced legislation suspending these bonuses and limiting future compensation packages for fannie and freddie employees. in november his committee passed the bill by a vote of 52-4. the begich-thune

protesters were demonstrating on -- outside freddie mac today. protesters were demonstrating on behalf of those who have lost their homes due to foreclosure. >> today 25 occupy d.c. protesters made their voices heard. they were there in support of a local resident who was of colonel of losing her home -- who was on the verge of losing her home. she walked into freddie mac headquarters today worried that her home would be taken by the bank. when she walked out -- >> i feel real good. >> it was all smiles. >> she has been struggling to stay in her home ever since she was laid off in 2009. she fell behind in her payments and worked out a loan modification deal with bank of america. >> i gave them the lump-sum they asked for. >> but she says four months later the bank took the lump-sum back and -- gave the lump-sum back and told her her home would be foreclosed on. she is one of thousands of americans fighting for closure. she says what made the difference for her or the occupied d.c. protesters. >> as someone who is thomas myself, i know what it is

second, this bill would bring fannie mae and freddie mac on budget. these enterprises rack up billions in liabilities hidden from the public and from taxpayers. last june the c.b.o. testified that it put the total cost of the mortgage commitments made by these two entities at $291 billion and that that cost would ultimately rise even higher. third, this bill increases transparency for information contained in agency budget requests, requiring that they be made public on the internet at the same time as they are provided to congress. government agencies have an obligation to taxpayers to justify every dollar spent in washington. madam chair, no budget process reform can substitute for political will when it comes to tackling our great of the fiscal and economic challenges. getting america back on track will require a senate and a president willing to get serious about the structural drivers of the debt and the continued impediments we have to economic growth. but being honest about the size and scope of our challenges, as this reform calls for, offers

how is freddie mac or how has it been betting against homeowners? >> well, our story basically uncovered that on the one hand freddie mac has been making it harder for homeowners to refinance their loans. that's not a big secret. a lot of the industry has been making it harder and tightening. but what we showed was that freddie mac, based on public documents, had at the same time making it harder to refinance was also placing bets to the tune of 3.5 billion. now it looks like it might be $5 billion in these bets that make a lot of money if people are unable to refinance and that lose a lot of money if people can refinance. >> so that essentially was sending a message that freddie mac wanted to people to fail? they didn't even want to throw them a lifeline? >> well, you know, i wouldn't feel comfortable going that far but these bets just show that at least in this one investment that freed dee mack is making, it's got this $5 billion investment tied to 20 and $30 billion in home loans. so probably more than 100,000 american families who have mortgage

and tack that on to the $185 billion we have already given fannie mae and freddie mac. my guest says you are throwing money down a deep hole. but we keep doing it because, i think, these guys represent 80 percent or mine percent of all the mortgages and if we hurt them we hurt those mortgages. what do you say? >>guest: well, that is what the president would say, we have to keep these people around or you do not get a mortgage, but the problem is, these has made a lot of promises to the firms and the companies that want this money. so he feels like he has things he has to uphold there. but, the other issue, neil, when you look at a bailout and you throw money at a failing industry, a falling businesslike the housing market, for example, you could run the risk of ringing out of money and the auto companies did the same thing and that is where we are with fannie mae and freddie mac. >>neil: i would entertain if, if, if, if, scott, they were part of the big restructuring, the big investigations that have gone after banks and everyone but fannie mae and freddie mac. in other

>> i would certainly start to wind down fannie mae and freddie mac. they haven't been downsized at all since september 2008 when they were put in conservatorship. if you compare it to similar, they have had control of the trust corporation in the '80s, they immediately started downsi downsizing. they can put them in receivership. they can start doing that immediately. >> isn't the problem if they put them in receiver shship it will force a debt restructuring that will seize up the big banks? >> ip don't see that happening. >> can i explain to you how it could happen? the big banks are pretending that the second liens are worth 80 cents on the dollar. when you start to restructure the first mortgage in the open market, you render the second liens 0, which annihilates the balance sheet. it's the same if you put swaps on exchanges. whether it's restructuring at fannie or the first lien in the bond market or my swaps market, the very reason none of these ideas ever happen is because if you were to do them, it would force a complete restructuring of wells

una de las cosas que mas necesitamos es seguir presionando a freddie mac y fannie mae porque ellos son los que controlan la mayoria de los prestamos en california y quienes se han rehusado totalmente a hacer alguna reduccion en los balances.... pilar nino se espera que tome un tiempo en implementarse los alivios frutos de este acuerdo judicial....well s fargo ha dicho que los tendra listos a partir del primero de marzo....pilar nino telemundo. cu ---surge nueva informacion en torno al sospechoso de haber baleado a un agente federal el martes por la manana... take vo ---de acuerdo a las averiguaciones, la esposa del agente fue estudiante del sospechoso hace casi un ano en la clase de optica que este ensena... ---ahora la policia asegura que dennis bagwell estaba obsesionado en tener una relacion amorosa con la esposa del agente y que ese fue el motivo que lo llevo a dispararle a robert suplik, quien trabaja en la aduana del aeropuerto de san francisco... ---el agente se encuentra internado en el centro medico eden de castro valley pero la familia ha solicitado que no se divulge su cuadr

una de las cosas que mas necesitamos es seguir presionando a freddie mac y fannie mae porque ellos son los que controlan la mayoria de los prestamos en california y quienes se han rehusado totalmente a hacer alguna reduccion en los balances.... pilar nino se espera que tome un tiempo en implementarse los alivios frutos de este acuerdo judicial....well s fargo ha dicho que los tendra listos a partir del primero de marzo....pilar nino telemundo. cu ---mas de 500 conserjes marcharon hoy por las calles del valle del silicio... take vo ....para expresar su descontento por la desigualdad que existe entre la clase trabajadora y los mas acaudalados. ---en el recorrido se les unieron lideres comunitarios, eclesisticos y de la comunidad en general. ---segun algunos manifestantes, el poder econmico del uno por ciento de la poblacion de los estados unidos, ha causado la reduccion de ingresos de las familias de la clase media y de los pobres. take sot senora dice: " ya estamos cansados del uno porciento que nos siga atacando, que nos sigan, este, utilizando." vo ---la marcha fue parte de una accion

we did that with our own authority working with fannie mae and freddie mac. about 3.5 million other owners that have mortgages that aren't insured by fannie or freddie or fha, would have that same opportunity to refinance, as long as they're current, paying, and underwater. >> now, mr. secretary, we know that the plan has to be passed by congress. congress has already rejected similar plans twice in the last year. we know how divisive washington is right now. it's an election year. how likely is this really to pass? >> look, when we announced the changes around fannie mae and freddie mac, there was broad bipartisan support. whether it was senator boxer working together with senator isa isaacson to propose their own legislation around this, or another range of supporters. the reason for that, of course, is that economists across the board, from republican to democrat and everything in between, believe that this is one of the most important things that we can do, not only for the housing market, but also to boost consumer spending. it's about $3,000 a year on a

fannie mae and freddie mac and that's the next place we need to go. let me be clear, by know means is this the whole solution or the end of the problem. first, i think we need tide lot of work to make sure this agreement itself is implemented. i think we move forward in good faith that we'll be able to get the relief for people that this agreement is designed to effect. that's step one. secondly, it's not everybody. and it doesn't deal with, remember, the things that got carved out. all the the attorney's general that said we won't sign an agreement unless we can carve out some securitization claims. some criminal investigations. in massachusetts we had very specific claims around holding mortgages before you can foreclosure. we carved out of this agreement. i want to be clear this is only one piece of a much larger puzzle and we've done some work in the past and brought over $600 million back to homeowners massachusetts in origination claims and securitization claims and this piece will help for those homeowners who are eligible but there's still lot

you knew that he was on retainer as a consultant to freddie mac, the mortgage giant. with regard to governor romney, you knew... you heard of him as a massachusetts moderate or massachusetts liberal. so you got a pretty, i should say, distorted picture of the two. you didn't get a sense of where these candidates stand on the issues and maybe the voters don't expect that anymore. but it's not what they got here in florida. >> ifill: it's interesting to hear newt gingrich say just now in that piece that you just did that he plans to be in this for another six months unless romneyrops out. what's at stake for newt gingrich after a night like tonight? right now, of course, the polls are still open. we don't know what is the outcome is. we only know that the polls are showing mitt romney doing pretty well. >> woodruff: the gingrich people want that margin to be as small as possible. they do not expect to win. but they don't want to be completely embarrassed here in florida. so that's why gingrich, even today, was running negative ads against romney, doing anything they can

all lenders are in there wells fargo, chase, bank of america, fannie mae, freddie mac, representatives in there as well. when they get in there they are going to get a chance to refinance save maybe hundreds of dollars per month. darin joins us me from naca communications director. how is it that you can get as low as 2%, 30 year fixed, how can naca get it? >> most of the people have tried and failed on their own with their lender. we have legally binding contracts with every major lender in the country that says if we can show the mortgage is unaffordable they have to get to an affordable payment that can go as low as 2% to get to that. will everyone get 2%? it depends on affordable. income, expenses and what is leftover, the mortgage is unaffordable. that's how we figure that out. >> reporter: give me the five most important things people need to bring? >> proof of income. if they are working, thirty days of pay stubs, bank statements, unemployment show us some roof proof of income. they can go on to the website naca.com and see the documents you need. >> reporter: thank you. go to a

. >> greta: and fannie mae and freddie mac, more than $150 billion. didn't believe that was not all two months ago. they were given millions in bonuses and are they going to get it? also an ominous warning, top u.s. officials have new information, it's not good at all. john bolton goes on the record. and michelle obama about to join american idol. stay tuned for the very latest this new at&t 4g lte is fast. hey. did you guys hear... ...that mary got engaged? that's so 42 seconds ago. thanks for the flowers guys. [ both ] you're welcome. oooh are you guys signing up for the free massage? [ both ] so 32 seconds ago. hey guys you hear frank's cat is sick? yeah, we heard. wanna sign the card? did you know the guys from china are in the office... [ speaking chinese ] [ male announcer ] stay a step ahead with the 4g lte galaxy s ii skyrocket. only from at&t. ♪ >> greta: whether fannie mae and freddie mac and the fight against the teachers ever end? to the tune $150 billion will you think that would be the end of the asking. not so fast, in november they a

fannie mae and freddie mac. and people on capitol hill. and we ought to look at that. there are regulators involved. and it is will true that there are many, many, many responsible homeowners who through no fault of their own find themselves in a terrible position. hopefully that is what the program is meant to help. yes, there were irresponsible borrowers as well, people would played the game, played the system, and those people should not get a hand out but $1,500 or $2,000 a month off of a mortgage may not sound like a lot to the occupy protesters but it can be a lot. >>neil: but i misstated that, this is for people who lost their home already they will get a chuck cut from the government for $1,500 or $2,000 which sounds silly but we can go down that road. >>guest: i agree. a hand out, why think that is helpful. >>neil: switching gears putting on your c.e.o. hat we have news that it has been improving, not gang busters but the administration has been crowing about job both and what have you and many argue that is why mitt romney and other republican canidates are s

i mean, we just, you know -- a lot of us signed a letter on the fannie mae and freddie mac bonuses, which, you know, the thing i would caution is we set the metrics that is actually reasonable and good and solid metrics, not like they did at fannie mae and freddie mac. they picked some metrics they could achieve without doing much work and the result was millions in bonuses. we want to attract the right people, we want to attract them for public service, but at the same time, the bonus component is what bothered me, exactly where you were going, susan, was this whole issue of what does that all mean. so, i would recommend the same thing, take a break and -- >> senator tester, are you willing to hold over until this afternoon? >> absolutely. the problem is going to be that my schedule this afternoon is packed, but jamie wise, my right-hand person or left-hand person, whatever side he's on, will absolutely work with your staffs to try to make this happen. >> fine. and obviously, you'll vote by proxy and you'll have to sign off on any agreement that we make. and i hope we can reach some kind

. >> greta: and fannie mae and freddie mac, more than $150 billion. didn't believe that was not all two months ago. they were given millions in bonuses and are they going to get it? also an ominous warning, top u.s. officials have new information, it's not good at all. john bolton goes on the record. and michelle obama about to join american idol. stay tuned for the very latest tonight. you don't want to miss it. y... ♪ that right now, you want to know where you are, and where you'd like to be. we know you'd like to see the same information your advisor does so you can get a deeper understanding of what's going on with your portfolio. we know all this because we asked you, and what we heard helped us create pnc wealth insight, a smarter way to work with your pnc advisor, so you can make better decisions and live achievement. premier of the packed bag. you know organization is key... and so is having a trusted assistant. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle...and go. you can even take a full-s or ab

. >> and what about the freddie mac, fannie mae? >> that's the other half of the population in this country. i asked the attorney general. their eyes on fannie mae and freddie mac next. >> something in the offing there, as well. thank you, david. >>> we have another historic announcement to tell you about today. for the first time in more than 30 years, this nation is going to build another nuclear power plant. new plants were halted in 1979, after the partial meltdown at three mild island. the new plant will be built in georgia. but the debate has already begun. steve osunsami is in atlanta. >> reporter: it's been 33 long years since america has said yes to a new nuclear reactor because the scar of three mile island, the near catastrophe sent nearly 300,000 frightened people running for safety, and cost more than $1 billion to clean. today, the southern company, which is building the two new reactors southeast of atlanta, joined some federal officials saying the new plant will bring jobs, will lower utility bills and will operate s

occupiers protested outside of freddie mac's offices in downtown washington on behalf of bertini jones a woman facing eviction even though she was still making their mortgage payments thanks to their intervention freddie mac. told and has come up with a new mortgage payment plan for jones to keep her in her home and who said the movement needed tends to make a difference the bad arizona state representative michele. last week in arizona state house committee approved a bill that would require even poverty stricken students to pay a minimum of two thousand dollars a year to attend public universities in arizona in response nearly one hundred state college students showed up at the committee's hearing to voice their concerns over increased to wish to which state representative against a supporter of the torsion hike simply replied welcome to life. more like welcome to life in america one of the only developed nations in the world where college is free and it's politicians like representative again who are responsible. and the very very ugly wisconsin governor scott walker walker in the w

mac to make changes. we worked on those through the fall and they were implemented starting in december. and so already there are tens of thousands of homeowners that have closed on those loans. but again, they've only been in place for a few weeks at this point. where folks can actually get those loans. >> the president announced that first plan in february of 2009, three years ago this month. he promised i think up to 9 million people would stave up foreclosure. why should the american people have confidence this is now the fourth or fifth plan you've had, this one's actually going to work? >> so to be clear, the h.a.r.p. portion of it, the hope was that it would help 4 to 5 million homeown homeowners. that was one portion of it. as the president said this morning, morning, while we've made significant steps, we've made real progress, just to take one example, nearly 5 million families have had their mortgaged modified since the president took office. foreclosures are down by almost 50%. the number of p

last week's debate in jacksonville, romney took aim at newt gingrich's consultant work with freddie mac. >> he should have stood up and said these things are a disaster. this is a crisis. he should have been anxiously telling the american people that these entities were causing a housing bubble that would cause the collapse we've seen here in florida and around the country. >> governor romney owns shares of both fannie mae and freddie mac. governor romney made a million dollars off selling some of that. governor romney has an investment in goldman sachs which is today foreclosing on floridians. >> brown: in that same debate texas representative ron paul and former senator rick santorum both said fannie and freddie should be phased out. for his part, the president used his state of the union address to call for new legislation aimed at helping those unable to make their mortgage payments. >> responsible homeowners shouldn't have to sit and wait for the housing market to hit bottom to get some relief. and that's why i'm sending this congress a plan that gives every responsible homeowner t

we talked about it, fannie mae and freddie mac, they are critical. they represent about two-thirds of the mortgages. they weren't part of this settlement. they have a separate process they follow. we have just announced not only a set of steps to expand refinancing for fannie mae and freddie mac becauorrowers. those should many millions more families. but we also need to get principal reduction happening. it's the one area we haven't made real progress. this settlement is the first step but we also announced just a few weeks ago for the first time tripling our incentives for principal reduction and making them available for fannie mae and freddie mac mortgages. that's an important step as well. >> come back and visit with us again. let's keep track of how this is moving along. we've now started to see a break in the back of the jobs problem and now all attention gets put onto the housing problem because that continues to be the thing that holds this economy back. secretary donovan, always a pleasure to talk to you. >>> will cain and christine is stil

they've been broadly supported for families that have fannie mae and freddie mac or f.h.a. mornings. we ought to be the same thing. it's a simple matter of fairness. i think when folks in congress take a look at this, they will support it, as have a broad range of economists across the board who believe this is one of the most important steps we can take for the housing market and for the economy more broadly. >> woodruff: mr. secretary, what do you say to the argument from not only the speaker but other republicans, including those running for president, when it comes to the housing crisis in this country, the market ought to be allowed, in essence, to just bottom out, find out what the prices truly are of these housing properties. >> judy, let's be clear about what that means. if you have a family whose entire net worth is tied up in their home, who is going to be able to start a small business because of the equity they had in their home or send their kids to college, bottoming out means telling those families they can't send their kids to college, they can't start that

mac. >> let's get the phone calls on this. nancy is up first. she's a democrat and conquered new hampshire. nancy, what do you think? >> i own a business in massachusetts, so i'm aware of massachusetts laws. i'm curious in ms. coakley was the attorney general back at the time when eliot spitzer basically got taken down by that phone call. but my point is right before he fell from grace, he signed a letter on behalf of all 50 states attorneys general attempting to stop the predatory lending, and like those jumbo loans, the 80/20 loans -- i'm an insurance agent. a lot of people get mortgages by insurance and then go under. but all 50 attorneys general tried to stop these funky mortgage lending practices. and i believe it was john a ashcroft at the time who shut him down. they said the state laws couldn't supercede federal law, but they cited like an 1800s law or 1700s law. i then heard rick perry while he was on the campaign trail saying that texas didn't allow them, the companies, to do that to the residents of texas. so i was