New York Times: White House Philosophy Stoked Mortgage Bonfire
Washington, D.C., Of Counsel Michael Oxley, former Congressman, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and co-author of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX), was quoted in a December 21 New York Times article, "White House Philosophy Stoked Mortgage Bonfire."
The focus of the article is the current economic crisis, as it relates to the subprime mortgage meltdown and the stagnant housing market, and how it is in part due to President Bush's "belief that Americans do best when they own their own home" and "his conviction that markets do best when let alone."
By the spring of 2005, the administration decided more power should be given to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, the tiny government agency that oversaw the government-sponsored entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. A deal with Congress appeared within reach, put forth by the House Financial Services Committee, then chaired by Oxley. Former Treasury Secretary John Snow viewed it as "a pretty darned good bill," but at the urging of former chief of staff Andrew Card and the White House economics team, the president decided to hold out for a tougher bill in the Senate.
Card said he feared that Snow was more interested in the deal than the result. When the bill passed the House, the president issued a statement opposing it, effectively killing any chance of compromise. According to the article, Oxley was furious. "The problem with those guys at the White House, they had all the answers and they didn't think they had to listen to anyone, including the Treasury secretary,” Oxley said. "They were driving the ideological train. He was in the caboose, and they were in the engine room."
While some believe Oxley's bill would not have produced the desired outcome, Snow, for one, called Oxley "a hero," adding, "He saw the need to move. It didn't get done. And it's too bad, because I think if it had, I think we could well have avoided a big contributor to the current crisis."