signaled it wasprepared to the support the two agencies with what is effectively ablank check.

The government took control over the GSEs in 2008, when itbecame clear the agencies were heading for calamity. Littlefinancial headway has been made since then. Indeed, the requestsfor additional aid have steadily increased; Fannie Mae alone istopping $60 billion in requests for emergency assistance. Theagency's last requestfor $15 billion, in fact, pushed some in the real estateindustry--which relies on the GSEs for multifamily finance--to takethe position that enough aid has been rendered.

There have been other proposals to rejigger the GSE model overthe past 12 months, put forth by such industry groups as theMortgage Bankers Assoc. Few of these, though, suggest outrightdismantling of the agencies. More worrisome, at least to theirproponents, is the fact that Frank has apparently thrown hissupport behind this movement.

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Erika Morphy

Erika Morphy has been writing about commercial real estate at GlobeSt.com for more than ten years, covering the capital markets, the Mid-Atlantic region and national topics. She's a nerd so favorite examples of the former include accounting standards, Basel III and what Congress is brewing.