Geithner to Congress: Revamp housing in 2 years

WASHINGTON (AP) - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says the Obama administration wants Congress to approve legislation within two years that overhauls Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the nation's huge but financially feeble housing market giants.

In remarks prepared for delivery Tuesday to a House committee, Geithner says failure to act by then would worsen market jitters and leave serious problems unaddressed. But in an apparent warning to some Republicans who want to quickly pull the government out of its role in supporting the mortgage system, he's also warning that acting too fast would hurt too.

The Treasury chief's testimony comes less than three weeks after the administration released a report calling for a scaling back of Fannie and Freddie and much of the rest of the federal role in housing.