[1]U.S. Senator Richard Shelby [2], R-Alabama, is expected to become the new chair of the Senate's Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee [3] following Tuesday's election in which Republicans retained control of the House of Representatives and made historic gains in the senate to take over the majority. The move likely signals a shift in the in the hosing policy that will emanate from the legislative branch.
Shelby, 80, previously served as chair of the committee from 2003 to 2007. He is replacing retiring Senator Tim Johnson [4], D-South Dakota, as chair, and in doing so is moving past committee ranking member Mike Crapo [5], R-Idaho, in the pecking order in accordance with the GOP caucus rules that govern eligibility for leadership.
Shelby will have just two years to lead the committee under GOP party rules after he takes the gavel in January. Despite working against the clock, many analysts and observers believe that his experience and longtime involvement with the committee will allow him to speed up the committee's activity.
It remains to be seen what issues Shelby will tackle first in his second term as Senate Banking Committee chair, but experts believe that a priority will be taking on issues with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act in 2010 and in particular concerns over the activities of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB [6]) which formed a year after the Dodd-Frank Act was passed. There are reported to be several proposed bills regarding financial regulation reform in the House that have yet to make their way to the Senate due to outgoing chair Tim Johnson's opposition to such reform.
On Wednesday, incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell signaled that the Republicans would look at revisiting Dodd-Frank.
Some observers have also speculated that Government-Sponsored Enterprise Reform will be a priority for Shelby, since he was instrumental in negotiations for a 2008 housing law that resulted in the creation of a new regulator for GSEs.
The Republicans will hold at least 52 seats in the Senate starting in January. It is likely that the number will grow to 53 or 54 with the probable victory of Republican Representative Bill Cassidy over incumbent Mary Landrieu in the runoff for Louisiana's Senate seat and the final results of Alaska's senate election still being officially tabulated.
Still, any housing legislation that Shelby proposes will need at least some Democratic support in the Senate in order to pass the filibuster test. It's unclear whether McConnell will expand the so-called "nuclear option" to further diminish the traditional parliamentary procedure. While decrying outgoing majority leader Harry Reid's pushing of the nuclear button to push through some of President Obama's nominees, McConnell did note that it was "hard to unring a bell."
But the president still holds the power of the veto pen for any new policy reforms that make it out of the legislative branch. McConnell declared Wednesday that he will attempt to set a tone of conciliation by working with the Democrats, including the president, to find areas of common ground. Whether there is any common ground to be had in housing policy remains to be seen.