House Panel Backs Bill to Block Bonuses for Fannie, Freddie

The House Financial Services Committee, responding to lawmaker anger over compensation at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, approved a measure that would suspend the compensation packages for executive officers at the companies. The bill also would require employees of the two firms to be moved onto a pay scale that lines up with federal financial regulators including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

"Awarding lavish pay packages to the heads of these companies that have accepted $170 billion in taxpayer cash can't be defended," Representative Spencer Bachus of Alabama, the panel's chairman and sponsor of the bill, said today.