The video was taken from House committee hearings and not from the Senate, but the opposition was essentially the same.
You'll see many Democrats complaining that there's nothing wrong with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and criticizing the critics. They're not complaining about the contents of a bill, but rather that the problem doesn't exist.
The reason why the Senate bill is highlighted is because one of the co-sponsors was John McCain, who showed foresight that a crisis was pending and tried to do something about it. Meanwhile, Obama, who was completely silent on the issue, blames McCain for causing the crisis through rampant deregulation. The video should settle the argument about who was really for regulation and who was for deregulation of FHMA/FHMC, the primary instigators of the failed subprime lending market.
I would also suggest searching for Countrywide Mortgage, one of the biggest lenders of subprime mortgages, who gave numerous sweetheart deals to prominent Democrats like Christopher Dodd and Jim Johnson, head of Obama's VP selection committee. These guys had a big incentive to keep the subprime mortgage market going as they were lining their own pockets with campaign cash and loans none of the rest of us could get.
Here's a link to Democratic Senators Chris Dodd's (D-CT) and Kent Conrad (D-ND) sweetheart deal with Countrywide:
Senators Appear to Be Friends of Countrywide Here's one for Jim Johnson:
Sweetheart loan flap sends Obama vice president-vetting aide packing And another for Jim Johnson:
Top Talent Scout for Obama Tied to Subprime Lender And one for Barack Obama, who got another sweetheart deal:
Obama Got Discount on Home Loan The Democratic corruption runs deep. And the cost of these sweetheart deals and the protection they gave to Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac is $2 trillion in lost pension funds and 700,000 jobs and counting. When Obama talks about failed economic policies, he should be pointing a finger at his own party, not at President Bush.
As for Frank's comment about unregulated entities, nobody really knows what he's talking about. There are no unregulated entities that are permitted to issue mortgage loans.
