Mortgage group pays lobbyist $1.14M

WASHINGTON (AP) - The mortgage insurance industry’’s trade group paid a lobbying firm $1.14 million in 2007 to advance its position on legislation dealing with the housing market slump and mortgage mess. Mortgage Insurance Companies of America paid Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP $560,000 in the second half of the year, according to a disclosure form posted online in February by the Senate’’s public records office.

Among the bills the group lobbied on were measures to overhaul the Federal Housing Administration, proposals to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and legislation to fund the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Members of the Mortgage Insurance Companies of America include AIG United Guaranty, part of American International Group Inc., and Triad Guaranty Insurance Corp., part of Triad Guaranty Inc.

Lobbyists are required to disclose activities that could influence members of the executive and legislative branches under a federal law enacted in 1995. Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.