No bailout fee on Fannie, Freddie, for now: White House

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not currently strong enough to have to pay a fee aimed at recovering taxpayer funds used in the 2008 financial bailout, the White House said on Thursday.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told a briefing that the two agencies, under government conservatorship after running into trouble during the 2008 financial crisis, were not economically healthy enough to be included in the proposed fee, which is designed to raise up to $117 billion over 10 years.

President Barack Obama earlier in the day outlined his plan to "recover every single dime" the government spent rescuing the financial sector from its worst crisis since the Great Depression.

Fannie and Freddie have so far tapped about $111 billion from the U.S. Treasury Department as they continue to suffer heavy losses. Since the financial crisis began, hundreds of thousands of homes have been lost and many more are on the verge of being foreclosed this year and next.

The Obama administration on December 24 pledged to backstop all future losses for the mortgage giants, without limit, through the end of 2012.

The Christmas eve announcement also eased earlier requirements for Fannie and Freddie to reduce the size of their portfolios. The 2010 limits on their portfolios, in fact, would allow their investment holdings to grow.

And that, many analysts and lawmakers on Capitol Hill say, is tantamount to a backdoor bailout.

On Wednesday, a group of 70 Republican lawmakers slammed U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for that decision and a separate decision to approve multi-million dollar pay packages for executives at the two firms.

(Reporting by Alister Bull and Corbett B. Daly; Editing by Padraic Cassidy)