Senate Panel to Vote on Watt Nomination

The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs is scheduled to vote on the nomination of Representative Mel Watt (D-NC) for the position of Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director on July 16. The vote will take place in executive session. Even if Mr. Watt is approved by the Committee, which is expected, it is uncertain when the full Senate may consider his nomination. Consideration by the full Senate likely will be contingent on what happens with efforts by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to change Senate rules to expedite the approval of pending nominations by avoiding the threat of a filibuster by the minority. The prospect of the Democrats changing these rules is politically highly charged.The Committee held a hearing on the nomination of Mr. Watt and others on June 27 (see Memo, 6/28). NLIHC supports the nomination of Mr. Watt, and is hopeful that should Mr. Watt be confirmed, he would fulfill the government sponsored enterprises’ (GSEs) statutory requirement to contribute to the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF). FHFA’s failure to allow and require the GSEs to make these contributions is the subject of a lawsuit filed by NLIHC and other plaintiffs on July 9 (see elsewhere in Memo).