Dodd Signals That Senate Will Confirm Three Nominees to SEC

By Lorraine Woellert

May 23 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd signaled that the Senate is on track to confirm three nominees to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

``I want to get people in place and start making decisions. Too much is at stake with this housing mortgage crisis, the economic crisis,'' Dodd said in an interview on Bloomberg Television's ``Political Capital with Al Hunt,'' scheduled to air today. ``The SEC needs to function. We've got some huge issues out there.''

Dodd said he has heard from former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt, who has urged Congress to wait until after January when a new president takes office to seat new commissioners. Dodd said he is inclined to confirm all three nominees.

``A couple of them are very good appointees,'' said Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat. ``You can't just get your side through, given the margins in the Senate.''

President George W. Bush has nominated Elisse Walter, a senior executive vice president at the Washington-based Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and Luis Aguilar, a securities lawyer at McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP in Atlanta, to fill the vacant Democratic slots. Bush picked Troy Paredes, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, to fill a Republican seat.

Dodd, 63, deflected criticism of his legislation to stem mortgage foreclosures by creating a Federal Housing Administration program to insure as much as $300 billion in mortgages for troubled borrowers after lenders agree to forgive part of the loan principal. The measure would be financed in part using money originally set aside for affordable housing.

Katrina Victims

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, opposes diverting money from the affordable housing fund, which he wants to be used to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.

``We have done a lot already in Katrina and we obviously probably do need some more. But the foreclosure crisis is national in scope,'' Dodd said. ``This problem is now spreading, and so while I'm very sympathetic to the Katrina issues, we've got a problem here.''

The affordable-housing fund, which the Senate Banking Committee approved on a 19-2 vote May 20 as part of a larger housing bill, would be financed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored enterprises that are the nation's largest providers of home-loan funding. The alternative, Dodd said, would be to put the cost on taxpayers.

``We've got to address this,'' Dodd said. ``And if I can address it by having the potential loss come out of GSEs, that is my first priority.''

Levitt is a board member of Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lorraine Woellert in Washington at lwoellert@bloomberg.net .

Last Updated: May 23, 2008 11:00 EDT

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