Melvin Watt — Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency
 Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.) listens as President Obama announces Watt as his nominee for director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency on Wednesday, May 1, 2013, in the State Dining Room of the White House. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) |
Status: Awaiting approval by the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.
Melvin Watt is a lawyer who since 1993 has represented North Carolina in the House of Representatives. Watt has promoted lending to low-income borrowers, but is also on good terms with the banks, many of which have operations in Charlotte, a major banking center. Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and American Express were all major contributors to his last reelection campaign. The Federal Housing Finance Agency is an important one: In the aftermath of the foreclosure crisis and the Great Recession, nine out of 10 new mortgages are backed by the U.S. government. Ed DeMarco, the last acting chair, stood in the way of a Democrat-supported proposal to allow underwater homeowners to reduce the principal on their mortgages. That outraged many progressives, including members of Congress and state attorneys general, and led to the “dump DeMarco” campaign. The principal reduction plan — which Watt supports — would help Fannie and Freddie by reducing the number of foreclosures. Some Republicans object to the plan on principle, and DeMarco claims the program would encourage strategic defaults and be too complicated to administer. Many predict that Watt is unlikely to make it through the confirmation process. |
