The charter statutes of Fannie Mae,
Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks (collectively, the
government-sponsored enterprises, or GSEs) vest in the Department
of the Treasury (Treasury) the authority and responsibility to
approve the issuance of debt obligations by each GSE. Treasury
seeks the collection of information from the GSEs about their
planned debt issuances to fulfill its statutory authorities and
responsibilities to approve debt issuances by the GSEs, and the
collection of information about their actual debt issuances to
verify that the debt actually issued by the GSEs was debt that
Treasury had approved.
The Department of the
Treasury respectfully requests emergency processing and approval of
the collection of information contained in the forms to be used by
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks
(collectively, the government-sponsored enterprises or GSEs) to
request Treasury approval of their debt issuances and to report on
their actual debt issuances. The collection of information is
needed prior to the expiration of the time periods set out in 5
C.F.R Part 1320, and is essential to fulfill Treasurys
responsibilities under sections 304(b), (d), and (e) of the Fannie
Mae Charter Act (12 U.S.C. § 1719(b), (d), and (e)), section
306(j)(l) of the Freddie Mac Charter Act (12 U.S.C. § 1455(j)(1)),
and section 9108(a) of title 31, United States Code, and section
11(j) of the Federal Home Loan Bank Act (12 U.S.C. § 1431(j))
(collectively, the GSE Charter Acts). The GSE Charter Acts vest
in Treasury the authority and responsibility to approve the
issuance of debt obligations by the GSEs. The purpose underlying
the collection of information is to improve and clarify the
existing procedures and practices of approving GSE debt issuances.
This year, Treasury has been meeting directly with each GSE to
obtain their views on the availability of data, frequency of
collection, and reporting format and data elements by which
Treasury would collect information from the GSEs to use to fulfill
Treasurys statutory authorities and responsibilities to approve
debt issuances by the GSEs and to verify that the debt actually
issued by the GSEs was debt that Treasury had approved. Treasury
cannot reasonably comply with the normal clearance procedures under
5 C.F.R. Part 1320 because an unanticipated event has occurred,
namely the current turmoil in the mortgage markets. While Treasury
had not originally intended to request OMB to authorize emergency
processing of this submission of collections of information, the
current turmoil in the mortgage markets leads Treasury to conclude
that prompt commencement of the improved information flow that will
result from using the debt approval forms is necessary.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.