Top Obama administration officials defended a bipartisan bill to overhaul the mortgage-finance system as the best—and possibly only—chance to settle the firms' fate. "One shouldn't wait until there's a crisis to deal with this. We ought to deal with it now," Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said. Shaun Donovan, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, dismissed critics as self-interested on Monday. "They are making a lot of money off the old system," he said. Fannie and Freddie aren't allowed to lobby. In memos to their regulator that were made public last week after they were sent to lawmakers, they detailed concerns warning that the bill's higher capital standards could sharply raise borrowing costs.