Fannie Mae is in the business of expanding homeownership and affordable rental housing in America. The members of this Committee are well aware of the importance of homeownership to American families. Homeownership remains the American Dream. It is still the greatest generator of wealth for most families. And it is the bedrock of the middle class.
Housing is an important part of the economy as well.
Over 21 percent of private consumption in the United States is related to housing. That means 21 cents of every dollar spent by American consumers goes toward housing their families. Clearly, housing must be at the forefront of your thinking when you consider the interests of American consumers. I am here today to make the case that open capital markets are important to the average American family because without access to international capital the cost of housing in the United States would go up, and the opportunity for homeownership would go down. As I mentioned, our job at Fannie Mae is to promote the functioning of the secondary market for residential mortgages by increasing the liquidity of mortgage investments and by improving the distribution of investment capital available for residential mortgage financing.