By Lisa Kellman
The heads of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac testified before a frustrated House panel Thursday.
Edward DeMarco, the acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Charles Haldeman, the CEO of Freddie Mac, and Michael Williams, the CEO of Fannie Mae were asked by the House Financial Services Committee to justify some of their spending decisions, including spending around $74,000 for dinners during a conference.
Chairman Randy Neugebaur (R-T.X.) voiced his concern with many of the spending decisions made by the CEOs and forced Williams to admit his company had no written spending plan.
“We do believe we are being good stewards with money” defended Williams in response.
Executive pay also came into question. Halderman and Williams justified paying their second highest paid employees between $2.8 and $3.5 million, saying that top professionals in their line of work must be payed that kind of money to make the necessary risky decisions.
“Do you understand the outrage the American people feel…It’s impossible to understand why an individual, working for an industry such as yours, has to make that kind of money, remarked ranking member Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.).