In a straight, party-line vote, the Senate Thursday confirmed conservative economist Mark Calabria to be the next director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The Senate Banking Committee late Tuesday announced it will hold a pair of long rumored hearings next week to discuss the housing-reform outline released last month by Chairman Mike Crapo, R-ID. The hearings, which have been rumored for weeks, are scheduled for March 26 and March 27.

The general consensus was that Mark Calabria would be easily confirmed as FHFA director. So it came as somewhat of a surprise when his nomination passed out of the committee last week on a 13- to-12, straight party-line vote.

A working paper released by the National Association of Realtors at a conference in Washington, DC, this month makes a persuasive case that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be restructured as strictly regulated, shareholder-owned utilities. Perhaps more important, the paper establishes an effective format for evaluating other proposals for GSE reform.

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.

Sen. Mike Crapo, chairman of the powerful Senate Banking Committee, stirred the GSE pot last week by issuing his outline on how to restructure the nation’s housing-finance system. While short on details, the blueprint appears to contain a little something for everyone. That just might make it a good starting point for bipartisan negotiations on legislative reform.

The Treasury Department continues to work on administrative changes for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that can be implemented by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, but a blueprint is unlikely until sometime in the early spring.

Even as the number of proposals to overhaul the nation’s housing finance system proliferates, finding an acceptable plan is become increasingly difficult. Last week, the Government Accountability Office released a report assessing 14 of the leading proposals for reforming housing finance and taking Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out of conservatorship.

Rep. Maxine Waters, the first woman and first African-American to chair the House Financial Services Committee, comes to power in a particularly partisan climate. The Democrat from California officially took the gavel on Jan. 3, when the 116th Congress convened.