The White House considers the U.S. Treasury's actions to bail out Fannie and Freddie the appropriate action to take, but thinks that Congress should look at reforming the GSEs.

"President Bush thinks that the move that Secretary Paulson worked on is the right move at the right time. And this is not action that we wanted to take it's action that we needed to take," said White House spokesperson Dana Perino in her daily press briefing on Tuesday. "The goal is to prevent additional risk to the taxpayers, and in this plan Secretary Paulson has moved forward to make sure that the taxpayers would be paid back first."

Perino added that the U.S. Congress and the next administration should tackle GSE reform.

"The plan also gives time for Congress and the next administration to determine the appropriate role of the companies in the future. Whatever eventual long-term solution is decided for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it is crucial that they are reformed so that they do not pose similar risks to our economy or the financial system again," said Perino.

By Steve Stecyk and edited by Sarah Sussman
©CEP News Ltd. 2008