Senate's Dodd wants answers on Fannie, Freddie

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd on Monday said he wants to call Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson before the committee this week to explain Sunday's dramatic takeover of mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Dodd told reporters on a conference call that further economic trouble is likely if the takeover unveiled by Paulson leads to the shutdown of two institutions that provide valuable liquidity to the housing market.

"I don't carry any brief for Fannie or Freddie. I carry a brief for the idea that there be an institution around that can provide the kind of liquidity the market requires," he said, while acknowledging that for years, some critics of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been intent on closing them down.

On the federal takeover, Dodd said: "If this is an ideological thrust to make it impossible for these institutions to exist, then further economic deterioration is predictable."

(Reporting by Patrick Rucker and Kevin Drawbaugh)