The House has passed legislation to improve oversight at mortgage finance concerns Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The bill, prompted by massive accounting scandals at each agency, would allow the new regulator to control the size of the portfolios of each company if it felt it had gotten too large.
Last year, Fannie Mae was forced by regulators to restate nearly $11 billion in reported earnings.
The bill still faces major obstacles to passage. The House bill would create a new regulator for both companies and force them to adjust the size of their portfolios. A competing bill making its way through the Senate would force the lenders to sell off a large amount of their investments, which have generated the bulk of both company's profits.
Earlier the bill sailed through the House Financial Services Committee with strong bipartisan support.
