In a blow to ongoing redevelopment efforts in Southwest Washington, the home mortgage giant Fannie Mae decided on Thursday to scrap plans to set up shop along the Southwest Waterfront’s Waterside Mall. The decision comes after recent disclosures of accounting irregularities, which have put the company in a financial hole.

According to a statement released by Chuck Greener, Fannie Mae’s senior vice president of communications, the company decided to withdraw its nonbinding letter of intent for the development project as “one of several actions Fannie Mae has taken to reduce future costs in order to accelerate the increase in the company’s capital.”

Other actions include a decision by the company’s board of directors last week to reduce Fannie Mae’s common stock dividend by 50 percent.

Greener said the company remains committed to Washington, D.C., and will continue to work with District agencies to preserve and expand the supply of affordable housing in the Southwest area and throughout D.C.

Currently, Fannie Mae’s offices are located on Wisconsin Avenue in upper Northwest D.C.

Contract Discussion Includes Gingrich, Fazio

Ten years is a lot of time to get things done, but has the Republican Party followed through with its promises since taking over both houses of Congress for the first time in 40 years and creating the “Contract with America?”

Looking back at the past decade, representatives from the left and the right will share their perspectives on how things have gone in the discussion “The Republican Revolution at 10: Lasting Legacy or Faded Vision?”

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who penned the Contract with America, will join former House Democratic Caucus Chairman Vic Fazio (Calif.) and others in the roundtable discussion today from 3 to 5 p.m. in the fifth floor conference room of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, located at 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.

For more information, call (202) 691-4128 or visit www.wilsoncenter.org/congress.

— John McArdle and Jennifer Lash