In his testimony before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs last week, Mark Calabria, President Trump’s nominee to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency, reinforced expectations that, as director, he would begin the long-awaited recapitalization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The White House last week named John Roscoe as the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s chief of staff, effective Feb. 4.

In a joint letter sent late last month, Maxine Waters, D-CA, chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, and Sherrod Brown, D-OH, ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, raised serious questions about the legitimacy of Joseph Otting’s recent designation as acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Mark Calabria, the White House nominee to be the next permanent director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, will get a hearing before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday, Feb. 14. The SBC released the hearing schedule for Calabria and other nominees late Thursday.

In an about-face, the Federal Housing Finance Agency told the Fifth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals that it will no longer defend the constitutionality of its single-director leadership structureunderthe Housing and Economic Recovery Act, which created the FHFA.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency last week announced revisions to its final rules pertaining to capital requirements for Federal Home Loan Banks.

Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting early this week became the second member of the Trump administration to simultaneously run two federal agencies when he took charge as acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.