Some lawmakers and officials from the Obama administration have argued that Edward DeMarco, acting director of the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency, is obstructing the housing market from recovering by not doing enough for Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, which the government sponsors.
In an interview with C-SPAN, DeMarco said the $141 billion the enterprises received from the government was supposed to help them out, not bail out the entire industry.
"FHFA has been aggressively trying to assist the housing market to ensure that the country continues to have a liquid and stable and functioning secondary mortgage market," DeMarco said. "Some of those things that are being advocated for us to do really go beyond what Congress has given us the authority to do and the funds that have been provided," he said.
Last week, FHFA announced that home prices fell in August for the first time in four months, adding that prices have declined more than 19 percent from the industry's peak in April 2007. The decline reversed the 0.8 percent gain experienced from June to July 2011.
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