Obama won’t re-nominate pick to oversee Fannie, Freddie

“Unfortunately, there is not a clear path to confirmation for his nomination at this point in time and Mr. Smith has asked not to be renominated,” White House officials said in a statement, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The decision leaves the administration without a pick to head the Fannie and Freddie regulator, as congressional Republicans are gearing up to overhaul the troubled mortgage titans in what is expected to be a lengthy legislative effort. In addition, the administration is due to release its recommendations for overhauling the housing finance system within the next several weeks.

Edward DeMarco, a career civil servant, has served as acting director of the FHFA since August 2009.

During the nomination process, Smith received withering criticism from Senate Banking Committee ranking member Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), who suggested he would struggle to remain independent of the administration while monitoring Fannie and Freddie.

Shelby said Smith had “no experience” running an organization the size of the FHFA, and said a director needs to be “a watchdog, not a lapdog” of the administration.