Sen. Shelby’s surprising return to the GSE fray today has been taken by some as support for the “release-and-recap” strategy investors are advancing in the courts. We read it rather as an effort to obtain information from CBO that could empower the very influential senator to bar future Treasury sweeps when Congress gets into the year-end budget battle. Doing so would cost real money, but insulate Fannie and Freddie from risk that could easily force renewed Treasury injections or, worse, run through Treasury’s existing authority at a time of broader financial crisis.
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