The U.S. Senate confirmed Carol Galante as head of the Federal Housing Administration, the agency she has spent more than a year running as acting FHA commissioner.
The vote to confirm her nomination as an assistant secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development was 69-24. Sixty votes were needed under the terms of an agreement between majority Democrats and the minority Republicans who opposed her confirmation.
One Republican, Bob Corker of Tennessee, had objected to the nomination until recently. Earlier this month, he said he was now convinced that Galante would improve the finances of the troubled government mortgage insurer.
Those steps are to include limiting borrowers with credit scores under 620 to debt that is worth no more than 43 percent of their income unless they make a large down payment or have other money in reserve.
