Fannie, Freddie Kept Off Budget, Dividends Counted (Update3)

February 01, 2010, 04:20 PM EST More From Businessweek

By Dawn Kopecki

Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama’s budget blueprint for the next fiscal year excludes the $6.3 trillion in liabilities of government-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and delays for a second time a decision on restructuring the mortgage-finance companies that were seized 17 months ago.

The companies may need $54.4 billion more in U.S. Treasury Department preferred stock purchases to stay afloat in the current year that ends Sept. 30, and $23 billion more for the next fiscal year, according to calculations made from the Obama administration’s 2011 budget proposal to Congress today.

“The administration continues to monitor the situation of the GSEs closely and will continue to provide updates on considerations for longer-term reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as appropriate,” the Obama administration said.

White House budget director Peter Orszag delayed a decision on whether to bring the companies’ $1.6 trillion in corporate debt and $4.7 trillion mortgage obligations onto the federal budget. As the director of the Congressional Budget Office, Orszag criticized the Bush administration for keeping the 2008 rescue of the government-sponsored enterprises off budget.

At the time, Orszag said “the degree of federal control over Fannie and Freddie is so strong, we are incorporating them into the federal budget.”

“We continue to be on track to release a statement in the very near future” on the GSEs, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said in a conference call with reporters today.

<MORE AT>http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-01/fannie-freddie-kept-off-budget-dividends-counted-update2-.html

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They should at least add the projected GSE losses to the Federal debt.