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WASHINGTON (AP) -- It won't happen any time soon, but a conference Tuesday at the Treasury Department is the first of many steps toward restructuring the nearly $11 trillion mortgage market.

It's part of a growing conversation about shrinking the government's involvement in the mortgage market.

So far, rescuing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has cost the government more than $148 billion and counting.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will address the conference but is not expected to offer an exit strategy. The administration has said it won't offer its plan until next year.

Executives and mortgage experts are prepared to tell the Obama administration that the government must stay in the business of backing U.S. mortgages even if Fannie and Freddie disappear someday.

(Copyright ©2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)