On Meet the Press, there was a Senate debate between Republican Congressman Bob Schaffer and Democratic Congressman Mark Udall, both from Colorado (see Transcript). Here's something Udall said:
"I want to correct the record. Congressman Schaffer just suggested that in 2005 I didn't support reform efforts for the GSCs, Freddie and Fannie. I did, in fact. I worked with Republicans to make those changes at that time."
So Republicans were trying to solve this problem in 2005! I thought I heard a Democrat on Fox say that the Republican proposal wouldn't even have helped the situation. But it looks like Udall has a different point of view.