Falhas de Governo: O Budget Que Não Considera as Contas

After the U.S. government assumed control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—two federally chartered institutions that provide credit guarantees for almost half of the outstanding mortgages in the United States—CBO concluded that the institutions had effectively become government entities whose operations should be included in the federal budget. In contrast, the Administration, which ultimately determines what is included in the budget, considers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to be nongovernmental entities for federal budgeting purposes. Because of the differing budgetary treatments, CBO’s and the Administration’s budget estimates related to the entities were quite different for 2009 and over the 2010-2019 period. A background paper released today describes CBO’s budgetary treatment of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the methods CBO used to estimate their costs.