Sources: Gov't takeover of Fannie, Freddie expected

WASHINGTON -- Sources with knowledge of the deliberations, including House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., confirmed the general outline of the government's plan. Government officials and representatives of the company continued meeting Saturday about implementation, according to another source familiar with deliberations. A public announcement could come Sunday, the source said. The source couldn't be named because talks are ongoing.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson called several lawmakers Friday to update them on the meetings. Frank says he was briefed twice on Friday.

"I think it is necessary," Frank said of Treasury's pending takeover. "It is very important to keep housing going. And Fannie and Freddie are important to that." Frank says the way Treasury is constructing the conservatorship will provide "maximum protection for the taxpayers."

The Treasury Department declined to comment directly on the the plan, but spokeswoman Jennifer Zuccarelli said the government is "making progress on our work with Morgan Stanley, the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Federal Reserve. As we've said for weeks, we're not going to comment on rumors."

The plan under consideration could place Freddie and Fannie under federal control, and could include steps to dilute common stock while sheltering the agencies from major financial losses.

Such a move would amount to the most sweeping shakeup of mortgage agencies since Fannie Mae, the older of the two companies, was first established in the 1930s, and would also represent an unusually direct involvement by the federal government in the workings of the financial and lending markets.

Freddie and Fannie buy and package mortgage for other investors, and together hold or guarantee $5 trillion in housing debt, which is almost half the nation's total. Their financial health is critical to the housing market, whose slump has contributed to a faltering economy on the cusp of a recession.