The savings and loan bailout bill, the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA), marks the beginning of the post-Reagan era of reregulation. The traditional lobbying coalition of the housing and home-finance industries was too divided and defensive to shape the FIRREA legislation effectively. Congress and the Bush Administration were preoccupied with the financial and political crises raised by the collapse of the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Company, and were unsympathetic to the lobbying efforts of industry. In this anti-special-interest atmosphere, consumer and affordable-housing advocates enjoyed surprising success. But the FIRREA legislation is being modified as it is implemented, and the durability of both populist and regulatory gains must be questioned.
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