LAS VEGAS — A law professor who specialized in mortgage finance and housing related law told credit union mortgage executives that neither political party appears to be actively pushing to eliminate Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

David Reiss addressed his comments to executives attending ACUMA's 15th anniversary meeting. 

The professor from the Brooklyn University of Law took care to remind the executives that he had no more ability to predict the future than they did, but he noted that the Obama administration's range of proposals for what to do about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac included retaining them in some form. Likewise, Republican members of the House have introduced a wide range of legislation that has also largely called for reforming the two mortgage giants and not for eliminating them.

He identified four main issues that stand in the way of lawmakers' efforts to move forward on the topic, including potential risks in moving from the current Fannie and Freddie to whatever will come next, what the government's role should be in managing risk, whether the 30-year fixed mortgage should have a place in the new system, and what role the Federal Housing Administration should have in a new system.

“In a sense, we have a mortgage finance system now that is tremendously more sophisticated than it was when Fannie and Freddie were first chartered,” Reiss observed.