i have covered them in "wall street journal" and fannie mae sands out. it was two that cooked the books, $6 billion of accounting statements in 2004. even the government stated that franklin and his executives knowingly manipulated the books to boost. they walked away with $115 million in executive pay. this is at a time when countrywide financial is one of the biggest clients and franklin raines and other executives were giving a lot of money in the form of political donations to congress. what you saw was a record, $400 million fine slapped against fannie mae by the government. then franklin raines paying over $31 million in fines for securities fraud. basically, that was settlement. they paid it with stock options. that seemed to be worthless. >> housing and economic recovery act which are basically dictates how fannie mae and freddie mac are taken into seized by the u.s. government the government can repudiate the contracts with the executives but they don't have to pay the legal fees. get this. here is the deal. the idea that the inspector general,

conversation with senator john thune who is putting forth legislation to stop of the big bonuses for fannie mae and freddie mac executives, and he will be here to talk more about that in 20 minutes. >>> meanwhile negotiators on the capitol hill in extending through the end of the year the payroll tax cut worth $1,000 for the typical worker, but lawmakers are far apart on how the pay for tex tepgs as well as jobless benefits for millions of unemployed americans without swelling the national debt, and the house senate panel beginning the negotiations on the payroll tax figuring out how the pay for it, and the lawmakers working on the conferee saying they will start with the second tier issues like overhauling unemployment insurance. secretary of state hillary clinton says that russia and other countries must ask themselves if they should stand with serious people or the dictator, and the secretary state saying that they are hoping to win council approval of the arab resolution, and calling on syrian president assad to leave power. russia, as we talked about in the last couple of days opposes the

. >> another $5 billion kick in the panty from fannie mae.he day after president obama praises bailouts, did we just get proof they don't work? bailed out fannie mae is pleading money. again. and wants taxpayers to bail it out. again. this time, to the tune of $4.6 billion. 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

i offer this advice who say fannie mae and freddie mac need to earn millions, whatever happened to the notion that is honorable calling to work on behalf of your friends and neighbors? there are lots of dedicated, hardworking professionals at fannie and freddie who believe in that notion, and they are doing their absolute best to help american families afford the american dream of owning and keeping their homes. the begich-thune bill makes sure that this hard work continues and that their bonuses at fannie and freddie come to work every day not with visions of dollar signs, but instead with a clear eye of doing what's right for all americans. mr. president, i urge all members to support this commonsense bipartisan bill. senators tester, mccaskill, baucus, blunt, grassley, hoeven, enzi, and scott brown, senator scott brown already have joined senator thune and me as original cosponsors. i want to thank them for their support. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. tester: mr. president, i want to thank the senator from alaska for his expla

federal government is doing with the billions of responsibilities of the failed sponsorship of fannie mae and freddie mac. it requires that the enormous liabilities incurred by fannie and freddie be accounted for in the federal budget process using exactly the same accounting standards for loans that we already insist upon with mortgage lenders. i wish this bill abolished fannie and freddie outright. i wish it restored the days when banks or borrowers who made bad decisions took responsibility for them and didn't demand that their neighbors pay for their mistakes. but can't we at least agree that the public has a right to expect that the costs of this are honestly accounted for in our nation's budget? i yield back. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: i reserve the balance of our time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. garrett: and with that i yield one minute to the gentleman from oklahoma -- actually, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from oklahoma. the chair: the gentleman from oklahoma is recog

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.

>> i would certainly start to wind down fannie mae and freddie mac.y 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 farg

una de las cosas que mas necesitamos es seguir presionando a freddie mac y fannie mae porque ellos sonlos 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 cuadro

it's a great time for fannie mae and freddie mac to sell. and fannie mae and freddie mac are major wall street players. they are involved in lots of structured financing. they have gigantic investment portfolios of mortgage backed securities. but through their agreement -- and they were taken over by taxpayers in 2008 because they failed, and through their agreement with the u.s. treasury upon being taken over, they were told you have to reduce your portfolio. so right now is a great time for them to do that. it's a great time. interest rates are low, which means bond prices are high. thrazz lot of demand for this stuff and they could sell right away. so this is a wonderful time if we want freddie mac and fannie mae to sell their portfolios down thus being less risky to the overall economy, the financial markets, it would be a good time for them to sell. and what this story shows is that freddie mac is making it appear like it's reducing its balance sheet. it makes it appear like it's selling mortgage backed securities into market but it's a

all -- freddie mac, fannie mae all under contract to give lower interest rates as low as 2% fixed four-day event. in 2009 they had 60,000 people over the course of four days one probably not as big they've helped a lot of people. the mortgage crisis seems to be easing a bit. for more information abc7news.com, click on see it on tv. >> reporter: good morning. sheriff ross mirkarimi will be in court today to ask for the right to be able to see his family. the criminal court has told him he has to stay away. he says that has been crushing. today he's going to try a different tactic. mirkarimi is going to ask family court to allow him to see his 2-year-old son. the criminal court judge who issued the stay way order meaning mirkarimi hasn't been allowed to see his family since january 13th. he asked the criminal court to lift the stay away or the judge said no legal experts say mirkarimi might have a better -- have better luck in family court where the goal is to preserve the family and see a family reconcile its differences. mirkarimi has pleaded not guilty to three misdemeanors. pros

. >> 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 ask

this is not an exceptionable deal it was a made for a few people that freddie mac and fannie mae. it's probably in 95% of the contracts of publicly held companies. >> fhfa inspector general explains due to contractual obligations, fhfa believe the option are limited to paying current legal fees for officers and directors. they nonheless believe that fhfa must continue effort to control and scrutinize these legal expenses. but if organizations like fannie mae and freddie want to attract top level executive talent, curtailing the access to top level legal talent will prove difficult. >> when you have a deposition do you have to have three lawyers in the room? if it's taxpayers' money we need three, maybe four. there is no accountability for keeping the legal cost within a proper reference point. >> by july, inspector general will receive report on the fhfa on steps that they are taking to rein in legal bills. james rosen, fox news. >> bret: up next, why some american businesses are pulling up stakes and going to canada. later, one woman's crusade to overcome government red tape. and

una de las cosas que mas necesitamos es seguir presionando a freddie mac y fannie mae porque ellos sona 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 coordinada a nivel

franklin reins got $90 million when countrywide financial, one of fannie mae's biggest clients and theye giving a lot of money in the form of political donations to congress. so you saw a record $400 million fine slapped against fannie and franklin reins having to pay over $31 million in fines, back to the government for their accounting and securities fraud. and basically, that was the settlement. but they paid with stock options that were proven to be worthless. but getting to your point at hand, the housing and economic recovery act, which basically dictates how fannie and freddie are taken into conservatives, meaning seized by the u.s. government, says that the government can repudiate those contracts with the executives, that they don't have to pay the legal fees. and here's the deal, the i.g., inspector general says they want to continue to pay because they don't want to get into future legal fights with these executives. i think it would be cheaper to not pay the fees and go to court and not cover the legal battles. >> i hope every viewer would write every member of congress and

. >> 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 abov

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

it is a great time for fannie mae and freddie mac to sell, and fannie mae and freddie mac are major wall street players. they are involved in lots of structured financing. they have gigantic investment portfolios of mortgage-backed securities. but through their agreement, and they were taken over by taxpayers in 2008 because they failed, and through their agreement with u.s. treasury upon taking over, they were told you have to reduce your portfolio. right now is a great time for them to do that. it is a great time. interest rates are low, which means bond prices are high, a lot of demand for this stuff, and they could sell right away. it is a wonderful time if we want fannie mae and freddie mac to sell their portfolios down, thus being less risky to the overall economy of the u.s. financial markets. it would be a good time for them to sell. what this story shows is that freddie mac is making it appear like it is reducing its balance sheet, makes it appear like it is selling mortgage-backed securities to the market, but it is actually retaining almost all of the risk of those mortgages.

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

they're halting their sale of new home loans to fannie mae because fannie mae has been labeling them as a faulty and sending them back. some improvement in the maryland jobs picture. falling to about 6100. initial claims also fallen in d.c. and virginia. better than expected report on weekly jobless claims. the bloomberg maryland index was hired. q. how some people did not like all the calories in soda in but they cannot stand the diet drinks. pepsi has a compromise. six guest calorie pepsi next. if you hope to see the new game games," you may want to hurry up. this is about teenagers forced to fight to the death on live tv. i'm jane king for wbal-tv 11 news. >> this week she has joined the circus and learn how to train the dolphins. >> ava marie to try to take a dip in a pool -- decided to take a dip in a poll. ol. >> our first task was to feed a bat. in almost resembled a puppy. batsr lunch, we let the th out to play. next we prepare the food for the stingrays. when it came time to feed them, i was ill little nervous. -- i was a little nervous. here we go. now that is a hungry fish

and freddie fannie mae fannie mae was working just fine thank you very much until lyndon johnson privatized in one thousand nine hundred eighty eight to take off the books part of the cost of the vietnam war it was insane it should never been privatized all i'm saying is this is that you can't tax the banks with something that they're not responsible for people sign these contracts they were knew what they were getting into and if you were honest i didn't you know they didn't have all of them they should have been buying a house quite frankly but the people there are more responsible for this are not the banks it's the first of all the you know the mortgages the majority these actually weren't first mortgages they were they were reef eyes and people were being encouraged to refire they were do you remember this time i mean there was there was seminars going on you can get rich you know just buy a house and flip it housing prices are going to go up forever they you know greenspan was pumping out the money like there is no doubt america wasn't one of those commercials dietetic it w

at her house hoping to pressure fannie mae into the reprieve that just came a few hours later. >>> san francisco sheriff ross mirkirimi returns to court today for the final hearing before his trial on friday. today would likely be the day lawyers could announce a deal to avoid a costly trial in this highly publicized domestic violence vase. prosecutors and defense lawyers say they are eager to present their case to a jury and there appears little hope of a last minute deal. both sheriff ross mirkirimi and his wife have denied the charges. >>> a norovirus quarantine has been lifted at an outpatient clinic for veterans in martinez. the virus struck at the beginning of february at the martinez veterans affairs clinic. health fishes shut down the facility almost two weeks ago on february 9. patients can stay at the center while they recover from surgery. it was back open yesterday. >>> contra costa county libraries say they're having a hard time keeping up with the growing popularity of digital books. the county has nearly 3,000 e- books and audio books available to loan. this week more th

fannie mae and freddie mac. and people on capitol hill. and we ought to look at that.ulators 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 slipping in the

kenny said that fannie mae will look into whether or not wells fargo will work with her, allowing her to keep her house. >> you just need to reach out. don't be ashamed. that was my problem, i felt ashamed. and without them coming to me, helping me, i don't know where i would be. >> kennedy lost her job two years ago and was scheduled to be evicted this morning. >>> and sunny skies in the bay area all over, in fact it was so warm today that some places logged new records for warm weather in february. ktvu's chief meteorologist will tell us more. robert handa has more on the parker impact felt there by the heat. >> reporter: well right now the concern is the wind picking up, causing concern about fire danger and allergies, but many are benefiting from the warm weather here in the valley. and in the santa clara valley it is even boosting the economy. it is definitely not a sight you see very often in san jose in mid-february, a full-fledged construction project going on, while others are under way in the city. the south bay council says it is a complete turn around from last year when h

but the majority of the mortgages are owned rather by fannie mae and freddie mac and they are not covered by this deal. it's probably going to take months before homeowners can learn if they're even eligible for help in the next two months government officials will choose an administrator then take another six to nine months to notify homeowners. the washington region is raking in about $1.5 billion in the deal and that's because maryland is facing the worst foreclosure problem in the region. so it's getting almost $1 billion in aid. this is the sixth largest cash injection nationwide going to maryland. virginia will receive about $480 million and the district is expected to get roughly $45 million. >>> the house has passed its version of the stock act and it bans lawmakers from insider trading. the measure was approved thursday with just two no votes. it must be reconcile with the the senate version now. >>> and wall street, two deals. the mortgage deal and another bailout deal announced for greece neither of which produced much of a rally. checking the numbers -- >>> we could not stop t

jon: fran fran and -- freddie mac and fannie mae. first taxpayer dollars bailed them out. now we're footing their legal bills. jenna: a young man stumbles on a comic book collection and now more than $3 million richer. he will join us on set in about 45 minutes. >> love that story. right now gas prices pumping up to record highs for this time of year and there is massive sticker shock at one orlando gas station where the price per gallon hits a whopping $5.89 per gallon. some drivers pulling out of the station when they got a look at the sky-high prices. others shelled out for it and filled up their tanks. >> how much did you spend on gas today? >> $80. >> for how many gallons? >> 14 gallons. >> you think that is kind of expensive? >> absolutely. >> i got there and looked at the price. i'm not going to pay over $2 more a gallon than i should be paying. i will take my business elsewhere but i am very frustrated. jenna: across the country the average price for a gallon of gas stands at $3.61. that is more than 40 cents higher than it was this time last year. joining us phil

the idea is to sell fannie mae- owned homes to private investors who want to use them as rental properties. as darren gersh reports, these homes may go fast. >> reporter: warren buffett is not alone. money-making ideas love company and large investors and private equity types already have hundreds of millions, maybe billions of dollars, on hand to buy up foreclosed homes and rent them out. at carrington mortgage rick sharga says the company is ready to buy 30,000 to 40,000 homes. >> i think we all agree with warren buffet. if we could buy millions of homes, we'd be doing that right now. there is a lot of capital that's very interested in participating in a program like this. >> reporter: like this, meaning a pilot program announced by federal regulators who took charge of the troubled mortgage giants fannie mae and freddie mac when the companies were placed under government control. the federal housing finance agency today announced a test sale of 2,500 homes around the country. focusing on areas from los angeles to nevada and florida where the housing fell hardest. but this is a tiny frac

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

the ones -- so to be clear, he gave his jobs speech and called on his administration to work with fannie mae and freddie 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 do

. >> 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 saf

also, she has demanded the head of fannie mae resign. the head of delegations are demanding he resign. the question is why is obama keeping him when there's so much pressure from his own party and the republican party also critical? it's somewhat confusing. >> what is going to be done? there's this big pot of money. whenever there's a big pot of money there's predators and scam artists who are going to come in and potentially get some of that money. how are they going stop that? >> if anybody comes to you and says, give me $500, i'll access this, hang up the phone. >> if you know. >> if you know. there are hud certified housing counselors in the state of california, the country, at community centers and large organizations. but there are going to be scam artists and law enforcement chasing scam artists. a lot of it is about how much messaging the government can do to people so people are actually aware of what the system is. one of the provisions of the settlement is that if you are part of this group of people who is eligible, the banks