Treasury and FHFA agreed on some guidelines for how the process of getting the GSEs out of conservatorship will work. But they didn’t set that process in motion.

Even if lawmakers can’t agree on how or whether to release the GSEs from conservatorship, there are incremental steps they can take, according to former FHFA Director Mark Calabria.

Researchers estimate that extending the TCCA fee for two years and reducing the size of conforming loan limits would reduce the federal deficit by nearly $15 billion over 10 years.