Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is scheduled to testify before the Senate Banking Committee today at 10 a.m. EDT, about his department’s efforts to overhaul mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Wall Street Journal reported. His testimony comes five days after the administration released a report calling for the privatization of the companies, 11 years after the government took them over through a process called conservatorship. The Treasury chief will testify alongside Mark Calabria, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, who will play a key role in any push to privatize the companies, and Ben Carson, the secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Thursday’s report generally avoided making specific policy recommendations, so Fannie and Freddie watchers hope the hearing will yield additional details about the government’s plans. The Treasury report provided no deadlines for the administration to take action on a series of suggestions, such as amendments to the companies’ federal bailout agreement that would allow the firms to begin to accumulate profits instead of sweeping them to Treasury. Trump administration officials hope to curtail or end the existing profit sweep “well before the end of the year.”
