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The number of home foreclosures is down sharply from the depths of the financial crisis, even as many of the mortgage firms involved remain the same, including Fannie Mae, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase. But the latest foreclosure rankings also include a number of firms that barely registered or did not exist when the crisis began a decade ago, the New York Times reported today. These new entrants include firms affiliated with the private equity giant Lone Star Funds, the mortgage lender PennyMac Loan Services, the investment bank Goldman Sachs and the mortgage firm Carrington Mortgage Services. This changing of the guard in the foreclosure rankings, based on data compiled by RealtyTrac, reflects the new reality that most foreclosures today are not coming from mortgages written during the post-crisis period, but from soured loans written before the crisis that are in the final stages of liquidation.

A bipartisan group of senators told Mel Watt, the regulator who oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, that he shouldn’t allow the companies to recapitalize without congressional approval, Bloomberg News reported. Letting the U.S.-controlled mortgage giants build capital buffers would hurt legislative efforts to overhaul the housing-finance system, the senators said in a letter yesterday. The letter to Watt, who is director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, was signed by Republicans Bob Corker of Tennessee and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, as well as Democrats Mark Warner of Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Jon Tester of Montana. The lawmakers said they wrote to “express our concern regarding any administrative action that would adversely impact” legislative efforts underway in Congress. Some housing-finance watchers have warned that Fannie or Freddie could require taxpayer funds if a corporate tax cut, supported by Donald Trump’s administration, passed Congress. Such a cut could lower the value of assets the companies have to offset taxes.

In a bitterly partisan Congress, two senators are making a rare push across party lines to solve a persistent riddle with huge implications for the U.S. housing market: What to do with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Aides to Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) have begun meeting with industry groups and former government officials to discuss ideas, Bloomberg News reported today. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, whose panel would have to shepherd any bill to overhaul the mortgage finance giants, has also begun to hold housing-finance briefings with the idea of building toward a compromise. The Fannie-Freddie fix, promised since they were seized by regulators in 2008 and sustained with $187.5 billion in Treasury funds, has taken on increased urgency as the companies face the threat of needing more aid. Under the terms of their bailout, they can’t retain any capital starting next year, meaning taxpayers would have to cover any losses.

Overhauling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is a financial regulation priority for the Trump administration, Vice President Mike Pence’s chief economist said yesterday, adding that “a set of principles” will likely emerge in the coming months, MorningConsult.com reported yesterday. Mark Calabria said that the administration is examining mortgage finance policy to “try to figure out, really, what should the best approach be?” Officials are examining “what role Fannie and Freddie currently play” in the mortgage market, he said, emphasizing that taxpayers should “never again” bail out the government-sponsored enterprises. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed under the conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency in 2008 and received $187 billion in a taxpayer bailout that kept the two GSEs afloat. Republicans in Congress frequently cite the need to wind down government control of the two entities, and Calabria warned yesterday that taxpayers are increasingly exposed to risks in the housing market.