Dodd calls U.S. backup for GSEs "right steps": CNBC

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd on Monday said sweeping government measures to instill market confidence in mortgage enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were appropriate to calm jittery markets.

"If they're producing the calming effects, then these are good ideas at this point," the Connecticut Democrat said in an interview on CNBC television.

"At least at first blush this morning, you'd have to say these are probably the right steps," said Dodd, whose panel will hear long-scheduled testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday.

Dodd said some of the measures announced by the Treasury Department and the Fed on Sunday would need congressional approval, but it was unclear whether a housing bill working its way through Congress would be sufficient by itself.

"I think they'll (the House of Representatives) probably send another bill back to the Senate in the next 24 hours to 48 hours," Dodd said.

"The argument whether or not to include some of the statutory changes that we need to be able to implement what the Secretary of the Treasury has announced yesterday is a matter of some debate -- whether or not to include it in a separate package or whether or not to have a separate bill in the next couple of days," he said.

(Reporting by Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)