Housing-reform bill has insufficient support: Senate panel chief
Housing-reform bill has insufficient support: Senate panel chief By Ruth Mantell 5% 0% -5% -10% 10a 11a 12p 1p 2p 3p FNMA FMCC WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- A proposal that would wind down federally controlled mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae FNMA -7.48% and Freddie Mac FMCC -8.03% has insufficient support among U.S. lawmakers, and will just serve as a "first step" in Congress's work on housing-finance reform, the chief of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs said Thursday. "This is not the final product," said Sen. Tim Johnson, a Democrat of South Dakota, at a committee session to work on the bill. " We will continue to work together to improve the bill and attract additional support." The bill likely has enough votes to pass in the committee, but too few to force the entire Senate to consider the legislation. Several committee Democrats are concerned that the legislation...