The U.S. Senate on Tuesday voted 57 – 41 to confirm President Barack Obama’s nomination of Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC) to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
Watt was the first executive nominee to be confirmed under the Senate’s new filibuster rules, while Patricia Ann Millett became the first nominee overall to be confirmed this morning.
President Obama hailed the vote in a statement Tuesday evening.
“He’s the right person to protect Americans who work hard and play by the rules every day, and he’ll be the right regulator to make sure the kind of crisis we just went through never happens again,” he said. “I thank the Senate for confirming his nomination, and I look forward to Mel’s work on behalf of the American people.”
