Both also have now booked big gains by reversing write-downs on certain tax assets. By early next year, taxpayers likely will have turned a profit. The two firms' bailout agreements, however, do not allow them to buy back the $189 billion worth of senior preferred shares the government received in return for its aid. Under the bailout terms, they will continue to make dividend payments as long as they are profitable. The sizable profits the two companies have enjoyed in recent quarters have led some investors to speculate that they could be spun off again as private firms. But Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress, as well as President Barack Obama, have all called for replacing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with a new housing finance system. The companies provide liquidity to the mortgage market by buying loans from lenders and repackaging them as securities that they offer investors with a guarantee.