Let’s begin with the $10 billion in combined earnings that Fannie and Freddie generated in the fourth quarter of 2016. That money is supposed to be delivered to the Treasury on March 31, under a change to the taxpayer rescue made by the Obama administration back in 2012. That change required Fannie and Freddie to deliver essentially every nickel they make to the Treasury’s general fund each quarter; previously, they had been required to pay a percentage of the $187 billion they received in the taxpayer bailout that kept the companies afloat during the financial crisis.

The government has argued that it changed the terms of the 2008 rescue almost five years ago because Fannie and Freddie were in a death spiral and taxpayers needed to be protected from additional losses. But this stance was undercut last year by the release of documents in a shareholder suit showing that the profit sweep came after Obama administration officials had been advised that Fannie and Freddie were about to become profitable again. If President Trump wants to continue the previous administration’s practice of seizing all of Fannie’s and Freddie’s profits, his administration will allow that $10 billion to be swept, on schedule, into the Treasury’s general fund at the end of this month. If the administration does not want to follow this path, it can hit the pause button and let those earnings remain at the companies as capital.

Diverting Fannie’s and Freddie’s profits has been a bonanza for Treasury; if the last quarter’s payment goes through, the companies will have delivered $78 billion more to the government than they received during the financial crisis.

That’s one luscious honey pot. But there are a few reasons a new administration may want to stop dipping into it.

First, the quarterly payments have left Fannie and Freddie dangerously undercapitalized, with the thinnest of cushions to protect against future losses. Investors have sued the government over the profit sweep, contending that it was a breach of contract and an improper taking of private property without just compensation. Both of these legal arguments are moving forward through various courts.