House Republican Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) released the following statement after the House passed the Fannie and Freddie Open Records Act of 2017 (H.R. 1694. Introduced by House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), the legislation would allow taxpayers to make Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests while the entities are in conservatorship under the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
“When government entities can spend, act, and direct without proper oversight, the American people’s voice and their ability to exercise the power of the purse hangs in the balance. Today the House voted to give the people more peace of mind to know how their hard-earned money is being used by the federal government. No agency should operate in the shadows, and after billions in bailouts at taxpayer expense, making Fannie and Freddie more open and transparent is one step towards restoring that voice — and trust in representative government.”