At Tester’s request, Committee announces hearing to investigate housing bonuses

Senator called for investigation of ‘backwards decision’ to award multimillion-dollar bonuses

(U.S. SENATE) – Following a request by Senator Jon Tester, the Senate Banking Committee today announced plans to hold a hearing to examine the nearly $13 million in bonuses reportedly paid to top executives of the nation’s government-sponsored housing organizations.

“This will be an important opportunity to get to the bottom of this backwards decision, because folks in Montana and across the country are outraged by it,” said Tester, who serves on the Banking Committee. “The notion of rewarding government executives seven-figure bonuses is something Montanans will never understand. We’ve made progress in changing that culture over the past few years, but apparently not everyone was listening. Taxpayers deserve to know exactly how and why this happened. They deserve a fix to make sure it never happens again.”

Committee chairman Tim Johnson, D-S.D., today announced plans for a hearing into the bonuses given to the executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. A date has not yet been scheduled.

Tester on Wednesday called the bonuses a “violation of trust with the taxpayers of this country.”

In addition to calling for a congressional investigation, Tester also demanded detailed information about the bonuses from the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

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