Georgia’s U.S. senators introduce bills

Both of Georgia’s U.S. Senators put their names on bills that were introduced into U.S. Congress on Thursday.

Sen. Johnny Isakson (R) introduced legislation — The Mortgage Finance Act of 2011 — that he said was aimed at ending taxpayer-funded buyouts of the mortgage industry. Isakson’s bill would wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and create a new transitional program to securitize high-quality mortgages. That transitional program would be dissolved within 10 years, and become fully privatized, he said.

“This legislation is a detailed roadmap to change the unsustainable course we’re on in which the American taxpayers have been bailing out the mortgage industry to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars,” Isakson said, in a statement. “My bill will shut down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac through an orderly transition, and it will repay the taxpayers.”

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) also co-sponsored a piece of legislation Thursday, as he joined 27 other Republican Senators in backing The Taxpayers Right To Know Act (Senate Bill No. 1957). The bill was introduced by Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma.

The bill’s purpose is to provide taxpayers with an annual report card online for all federal agencies and programs. That report card would detail the programs each respective federal agency runs, the associated costs, if those programs duplicate other programs, and the outcomes of each program.

The Taxpayers Right To Know Act is a step in the right direction toward reducing our nation’s $15 trillion debt,” Chambliss said, in a statement. “The federal government should be transparent and accountable to Americans who pay for these programs. Armed with this knowledge, Congress and the American people can fight to eliminate programs that are duplicative and wasteful, and reduce the size of the federal government.”

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