Schumer Vows Push To Include GSE Loan Limit Increase In Final Senate Stimulus Package

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Schumer Vows Push To Include GSE Loan Limit Increase In Final Senate Stimulus Package

Finance Committee Proposal Does Not Include Measure Raising Conforming Loan Limits for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—Provision Is Included In Version Set to Be Approved Today By House

Schumer Also Plans Effort To Add Up to $500M in Foreclosure Prevention Funds in Stimulus

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) said Tuesday that he would work with the rest of the Senate Democratic leadership to ensure that a provision temporarily increasing the conforming loan limits for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is included in the final version of any stimulus package approved by the Senate, even though the measure was not included in the proposal unveiled by the Finance Committee yesterday.

The package set to be voted on by the House today does include the loan limit increase. Under that plan—announced last week by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader John Boehner, and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be allowed to buy mortgages up to nearly $730,000 in value in high-cost areas. The current limit on loans eligible for purchase is $417,000.

"This measure goes to the bulls-eye of the economic slowdown, which is the housing crisis. The House made giant inroads in getting the Administration to agree to increase the conforming loan limit, and the Senate should preserve those gains. I plan to make sure the provision remains intact once the Senate package has passed through the Finance Committee," Schumer said.

Schumer has praised the Finance Committee package, set to be considered by the full tax-writing panel tomorrow, as "in sync with the House bill, but stronger and broader." Still, he said that addressing the housing crisis in the stimulus was a necessity.

To that end, Schumer has also called for adding up to $500 million in emergency foreclosure prevention funding. He plans to work to get that inserted in the stimulus package as well once it reaches the floor.

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