Symbolism

From a New York Times article about Barney Frank's housing bill:

Mr. Frank’s bill is part of a package that also includes two major housing measures that the White House has been demanding for months: an overhaul of the Federal Housing Administration and tighter regulation for the government-sponsored lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

In its statement of opposition, the administration said it viewed the inclusion of those provisions as “largely symbolic” and called on Congress to pass those bills as independent measures.

OK, I'll bite: If the provisions overhauling the FHA and the GSEs are just "symbolic," then why would you want Congress to pass them as independent measures? Calling for provisions of a bill to be passed as independent measures is supposed to signal support for those provisions. But the provisions overhauling the FHA and the GSEs would still be "symbolic" as independent measures. So why disparage provisions and simultaneously call for them to be passed as independent measures?