Another Bailout? Reid Looks to Repeat Failed Tactics at the Expense of Nevada Taxpayers

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Look to Harry Reid for another Multi-Billion Dollar Bailout

GOP Frontrunner Sue Lowden: Harry Reid has quadrupled the federal deficit in just one calendar year. How much more damage can he do in his remaining months in office?

Today, Nevada businesswoman and U.S. Senate candidate Sue Lowden responded to mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae’s requests to the government for an additional $10.6 billion and $8.4 billion in taxpayer bailout money, respectively. On May 5, Freddie Mac asked for an additional $10.6 billion from the Treasury Department to cover their continued losses. Yesterday, Freddie Mac’s sister company, Fannie Mae, requested an additional $8.4 billion after the company lost $13.1 billion in the first quarter of 2010. The new request for aid will bring Fannie Mae’s total to $83.6 billion in bailout funds since 2008, and the total bill for the duo to nearly $145 billion.

Together, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac own or guarantee almost 31 million home loans worth about $5.5 trillion, which accounts for almost half of all American mortgages. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that Freddie and Fannie Mae could accumulate a $389 billion loss in revenues by 2019, a number that now seems conservative.

“Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are siphoning money out of the pockets of Nevada’s taxpayer,” stated Sue Lowden. “Without an end in sight, continued losses and no signs of recovery or reform, these mortgage moguls have the audacity to ask Harry Reid and the Obama administration for more bailout funds – paid by struggling Nevadans. No one has been hit harder by the careless policies of Fannie and Freddie – under Harry Reid’s watch – than Nevada, battling record high home foreclosures and unemployment. While the government has already handed over $80 billion in taxpayer provided bailout funds to Fannie and Freddie, Nevada has received $1.6 billion in total stimulus funding. Rather than throwing money into these sinking ships, let’s move to liquidate Fannie and Freddie and provide real stimulus for Nevada’s economy by not piling on more debt.”

Lowden continued, “Harry Reid has spent three decades in Washington, racking up $15 trillion of debt. He has allowed the federal government to post 19 consecutive monthly budget deficits, passed a trillion-dollar government-run health care entitlement program, and now is considering a second multi-billion dollar bailout for the ever-failing mortgage giants. And to think just two months ago he said the stimulus bill prevented things from getting worse. Harry Reid has quadrupled the federal deficit in just one calendar year. How much more damage can he do in his remaining months in office? Harry ‘Robust’ Reid needs a wake-up call, and I think his retirement in November couldn’t come soon enough.”

NOTE:

Since February 2009, Nevada has received just over $1.6 billion in stimulus funds. That is less than Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, and only 1.2% of the bailout funds received thus far by the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. To see where the stimulus funds have been allocated and distributed, click here.

Recovery.gov
Track the Money
Recovery.gov is the U.S. government’s official website that provides easy access to data related to Recovery Act spending and allows for the reporting of potential fraud, waste, and abuse.

In April, the United States posted a deficit nearly four times the shortfall of a year ago, and the largest recorded deficit for that month.

REUTERS WASHINGTON
Wed May 12, 2010 3:15pm EDT
Reporting by Glenn Somerville
Editing by Diane Craft
To read the full story, click here.

Click here to read more on the Calculated Rick Blog

In January 2007, when “the most powerful senator in Nevada history” (according to Harry Reid’s own ads) became the Senate Majority Leader, unemployment in Nevada was 4.5 percent. Today, unemployment has skyrocketed nearly 300 percent – to 13.4 percent in Nevada.

Although Nevada’s unemployment is one of the highest in the country, Harry Reid turned his focus to passing trillion dollar health care legislation, resulting in increased national health care spending by $311 billion over the next 10 years.

In stark opposition to the majority of Americans’ opinion, in March Harry Reid stated

“It’s also clear that the economic recovery act, or stimulus bill, prevented things from getting even worse.”

Senator Harry Reid, Monday March 08, 2010
Read his full statement in the RJ here.

BACKGROUND:

Sue Lowden officially launched her campaign for U.S. Senate on October 1, 2009. As a former Nevada State Senator and conservative businesswoman, Sue is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination against a number of candidates. Sue has led Harry Reid in 18 consecutive independent polls. A recent Mason-Dixon/Review-Journal poll had Sue up by 18% in the GOP primary. On April 16, the Las Vegas Review-Journal released a poll showing Sue up by 10% against Harry Reid in a full-ballot election with eight contenders and a “none of these candidates” option. Since January 1st of this year, Lowden has traveled over 25,000 miles in Nevada by foot, car, RV, and Southwest airlines.

In her solutions-based campaign, Sue Lowden has offered a number of policy positions on her web page describing how we can begin creating jobs again in Nevada and throughout America, as well as how we can lessen the cost of health insurance so more Nevadans can afford to pay needed coverage. Further, Lowden has called for immediate, across-the-board spending cuts to reduce our deficit, and support for efforts to repay taxpayers the unspent TARP money as well as unspent federal stimulus dollars.

Despite record unemployment, record home foreclosures and record bankruptcies, Harry Reid recently described Nevada’s economy as facing “robust growth.” Sue Lowden responded with a web ad entitled “A Robust Economy?” Watch the web ad here.

All of Sue’s television ads can be viewed on her website, www.SueLowden.com

Sue Lowden
Candidate for U.S. Senate
Web Site: http://www.suelowden.com/
Las Vegas Office
6655 S. Tenaya Way, Suite 170
Las Vegas, NV 89113

Reno Office
961 Matley Lane, Suite 105
Reno, NV 89502

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