Freddie Mac files with SEC; first step to capital

Lawmakers are waiting for the judgment of the Congressional Budget Office on the plan's potential cost.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Freddie Mac is considering a share sale of as much as $10 billion.

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae raise money for housing by selling debt cheaply, thanks to an implied guarantee from the government, and then use the proceeds to buy mortgages from lenders. They repackage the loans as mortgage-backed securities with their guarantee and sell them to investors or hold them in their $1.5 trillion portfolios.

(Additional reporting by Deborah Jian Lee and Jennifer Ablan in New York, and Donna Smith in Washington; Editing by Tom Hals)