Senate Vote on Watt to Head FHFA Imminent

The U.S. Senate may take up consideration of Representative Mel Watt (D-NC) to be the new director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) as early as the week of October 28. FHFA regulates the government sponsored housing enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. NLIHC considers the confirmation of Mr. Watt to head FHFA to be critical to the future of the National Housing Trust Fund.President Barack Obama nominated Mr. Watt to be the new head of FHFA on May 1 (see Memo, 5/3). A broad spectrum of organizations, from the Leadership Conference in Civil and Human Rights to the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of Home Builders, heralded Mr. Watt’s nomination. In a statement issued on the nomination, NLIHC President and CEO Sheila Crowley said, “Mr. Watt is a steadfast champion of policy that protects the interests of the public over the interests of big banks. He was an early supporter of legislation to create the National Housing Trust Fund and believes in a strong federal role to solve the shortage of rental housing that is affordable to the lowest income people.”The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs passed Mr. Watt’s nomination out of committee on July 18 by a party-line vote (see Memo, 7/19). The White House is confident the majority of Senators would vote for Mr. Watt’s nomination if given the opportunity. To get to that point, the Senate must first vote for cloture, which effectively bars a filibuster. A vote for cloture requires at least 60 Senators (three-fifths of all Senators) and advocates are working to urge all Senators to invoke cloture so that Mr. Watt can have the vote on his confirmation that he deserves.Read NLIHC’s Call to Action on Mr. Watt’s confirmation vote: http://bit.ly/1d3A0K7