A few months ago the Obama administration put out a “white paper” on potential outcomes for the demise of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

There was much debate about it at the time, but since then there’s been something of a calm after the storm.

Republicans made it clear they want government out of the mortgage business, and democrats just the opposite; hence the quiet.

Now comes a bi-partisan bill from a California Republican and a Michigan Democrat, that could be the first to get some real traction.

Rep. John Campbell (R-California) and Rep. Gary Peters (D-Michigan) are looking to keep the government as a backstop to the mortgage market, an a very measured and limited way. Their bill (HR 1859) does away with Fannie and Freddie and replaces them with no fewer than five “government-chartered” entities. These would securitize mortgages, as Fannie and Freddie do, with a government guarantee. To pay for that guarantee, the entities would pay the government a fee, as well as be required to follow certain strict standards of underwriting and loan size. The entities would also have to hold on to far more capital than Fannie and Freddie do.

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When it rains, it pours, but we’re looking at a hail storm in housing finance this week, as government starts the business of taking itself out of the housing business. Tomorrow morning the FDIC will release and vote on proposed risk retention rules for the mortgage market. This includes the “Qualified Residential Mortgage” definition. A QRM would be exempt from risk retention, where the banks have to hold on to 5 percent of the risk when securitizing loans.

The QRM will likely require a 20 percent down payment on the loan, as well as other underwriting criteria, and loans sold to Fannie and Freddie (while still in conservatorship), as well as FHA loans, would be exempt. At the same time, Fannie, Freddie and the FHA are making themselves more expensive, as they try to shrink their currently overwhelming market share.

Barely a few hours after the vote, House Republicans will introduce a slew of, possibly six, bills designed to reform/shrink/eliminate Fannie and Freddie. Then comes more at a hearing on Thursday on housing finance. All of this begging the question: Without Fannie and Freddie, does the 30-year fixed still exist in a fully private market? And what are the dangers if it doesn’t?

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As expected, the fight over the fate of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is now heating up on Capitol Hill.

Later today House Republicans are expected to introduce a bill from GOP Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling that would wind down the two government sponsored entities in five years.

Hensarling and other Republicans not that the Congressional Budget Office has estimated the GSE’s will cost taxpayers $389 billion over ten years.

They’ve already inhaled $150 billion in taxpayer dollars.

The bill, backed by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus, is similar to bills introduced in 2008 and 210; the difference now of course is the new House Republican majority.

Aides familiar with the bill say it would put an end date to the GSE’s conservatorship two years from the date of enactment.

It would repeal the GSE’s affordable housing goals mandate, shrink their size by capping the maximum portfolio size at $700 billion and then gradually reduce to $250 billion over five years. It would also return the conforming loan limit to $417,000.

That last one is particularly important to think about as we struggle through this Spring market and try to call it a “recovery.” Credit is still one of the biggest barriers to recovery today, and the private market for jumbo loans is thin at best.

I want to share some insight from FBR’s Paul Miller:

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