Johnny Isakson: “Happy New Year, Mr. President. Mr. President, I rise to speak about the nominee for Commissioner of FHA, Carol Galante.…”

“Happy New Year, Mr. President. Mr. President, I rise to speak about the nominee for Commissioner of FHA, Carol Galante. I opposed her nomination earlier in the year because of some concerns about what the FHA may or may not do; however, I had no concern whatsoever about her qualifications or ability. She is coming up in the second vote today, and I want to put on the record my wholehearted support for the Senate reaching the 60 votes necessary to confirm her appointment, and I want to explain why. There are some people in the Chamber who justifiably have concerns about the FHA, its liability on insurance and the fact that it is bearing so much of the burden on housing finance. But that is not the FHA's fault, that is the fault of Dodd-Frank. The restrictions on lenders would have forced FHA to be the lender of last resort--or most resort--for most American people. That is something we in the Senate have the ability to fix, but we should not punish a talented, experienced, well-qualified, and highly recognized individual who knows housing, both multi and single family, from being Commissioner of the FHA. So I rise to say to any Member that if they have a problem with the FHA, don't take it out on Ms. Galante. Look at what happened after the passage of Dodd-Frank and the fact that the FHA had to take on the burden because there was no other alternative in housing finance.…”