to go i nominated a man named mel watt to be our nation's top housing regulator he is an outstanding member of congress and during that time he's on the housing committee worked with banks worked with borrowers to protect consumers to help responsible lenders provide credit he is the right person for the job. yes mel watt is a representative from north carolina and spent the past twenty years on the financial services committee but he's also the same politician who made this interesting comment about derivatives take a listen. a lot of these arguments that i'm hearing today the same arguments that i heard about the river to swell out in north damn thing about derivatives i'm not sure i'm still not sure what to do. so let me get this straight obama believes the right person to wind down trillions of dollars of derivatives at fannie and freddie is someone who spent twenty years on the financial services committee and doesn't understand derivatives. looks like mel watt is the better bargain on that one the american dream of owning a home turned into a nightmare for millions of americans

mel watt, his nomination has been seen as an uphill climb.ma nominated him this past year, he was hoping for a vote before congress went into recess this august, it didn't happen. so we're seeing it pushed back. and the president really wants to see mel watt put in place because that agency that oversees fanny mae and freddie mac has been operated by an acting director, and that acting director has been there since 2009. and the administration and the acting director are sometimes at odds with each other on how to best move forward and help homeowners. the administration at times has wanted to be more aggressive in how it helps with the housing crisis, in particular it really wanted to do, like i mentioned before, the principle writedown program which would involve helping under water borrowers get current on their loans by slashing some of the principal that's on the loan. and ed demarco was against such a program, and nixed idea last summer. so while watt's nomination didn't get a vote before the recess, there's still some hope in the obama

have with mel watt on housing reform. they obviously block him to the end of the day. that won't be the case on summers, i don't think. i think republicans would be equally, you know, likely to block a yellen as they would a summers. i don't think the white house thinks they'll get any more republican opposition to summers. >> what about the far left? >> the far left is going to be loud and has been loud and will continue to be loud. i don't think it's loud enough to stop it. >> senate democrats are the big swing factor. >> they're the big swing factor. there's probably three or four who ultimately would vote fwens him because they think he's too hawkish or too in line with wall street. most of them, even the ones signing this letter we like yellen are not going to vote against summers. >> what do you think of the report tim geithner is advising the president on this? >> i think that's accurate that's he's talked to tim geithner about it. i don't know if he's gone so far as to ask him will you be fed chair. he loves tim g

congress needs to confirm mel watt to be our nation's top housing regulator so that he can protect consumers, and help responsible lenders provide credit. no program or policy will solve all the problems of a multitrillion dollar housing market. it will take time to fully recover. if we work together, we can make the home a source of pride and middle-class security once again. if washington is willing to set aside politics and focus on what really matters, we can rebuild an economy where if you work hard, you can get ahead. thanks, and have a great weekend. >> i'm senator tim scott from south carolina. on the senate energy and national -- natural resources committee, my colleagues and i are working to unleash the power of america's energy sector. it will create jobs and create more money for your pockets. the president is so out of touch with unemployed americans that he thinks tens of thousands of keystone xl construction jobs are a blitz, not a jobs plan. the new head of the epa said she does not want to talk about jobs writes new job killing regulations that will put tens of thousands of

he also wants to get mel watt confirmed to be chief regulator of fannie and freddie and wants more consumer protection. the president has said most of this all before, but this time he does it against a backdrop of recovery in housing, or so it seems. a new report on home prices today from core logic showed a slight pullback as higher interest rates hit potential home buyers. sue? >> all right, diana. stay with us. we'll talk now about how this might impact home ownership. we'll take a listen to who what housing and urban secretary sean donovan said earlier on "squawk box." >> we're not going back to a system that got us into the bubble in the first place. not everybody is going to be able to get a mortgage or buy a home. we need to recognize that as a country. >> let's bring in a senior policy analyze with guggenheim partners, and diana is with us as well. jarrett, why don't you start with that. should everyone be able to buy a home or as secretary suggested with the changes put in place it might be harder for some people to get a mortgage. they might not be able to get a mortgage. what do

months ago i nominated a man named mel watt to be our nation's top housing regulator. an outstanding member of congress and during that time he's on the housing committee, worked with banks, worked with borrowers to protect preserve consumers to help responsible lenders provide credit. he is the right person for the job. congress and the senate should give his nomination an up or down vote without any more obstruction or delay. we don't have time for those kinds of games. so i want to be honest with you, no program or policy is going to solve all the problems in a multitrillion dollar housing market. the housing bubble went up so high, that the heights it reaped before it burst were so unsustainable, that we knew it was going to take some time for us to fully recover. but if we take the steps that i talked about today, then i know we will restore not just our home values but also our common values. we'll make owning a home a symbol of responsibility. not speculation. a source of security for generations to come just like it was for my grandparents. i want it to be just

likelihood of him getting full enate confirmation to head the fhfa and what's so important about mel watt getting full senate confirmation? guest: i haven't been following that appointment very closely. we just saw some real stickler appointments going through the senate. he members of the nlrb, some in the e.p.a., atf. there are a number that the whouse made top priorities -- white house make top priority. so we've been caught up a think a lot in washington watching those move and waiting in the we get to the next round when we come back in september. host: tomorrow from ohio. caller: i hear everybody talk about our forefathers. i think if they were here today most of our congress or senators and some of our presidents would probably be tried for economic treason. i do agree with the republicans on one, immigration. this cow -- because i'm american, not a racist. you let 20 million people in to our country to lower our wages and you send 50 million jobs over to foreign countries where we've got to compete against people who make $37 a month. this is why our cities are broke, this is why

finally, congress needs to confirm mel watt to be our nation's top housing regulators so that he canrotect consumers and help responsible lenders provide credit. no program or policy will solve all the problems of a multi- trillion dollar housing market, and it will take time to fully recover, but if we work together, we can make a home a source of pride and middle-class security again. if washington is able to set aside politics and focus on what really matters, we can rebuild an economy where if you work hard, you can get ahead. the: those were both democratic and republican weekly address is. -- addresses. a few minutes left to talk to you about the state of the u.s. news media. we will go to jane from bowling green, kentucky on the line we set up for 50-64-year-olds. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i just wanted to say, i subscribe to a newspaper. i have since i was 20 years old. i have read a newspaper every day of my life. magazineok "newsweek" for almost 30 years. for those of us who did have "newsweek" coming every week, rounding up the news with good, in-

especially if i'm doing a portrait of an individual, i need to know what the personality is like a mel watt the personal hope is i can relate to, and i go to that. >> what other paintings or sculptures have you done of first ladies? >> first ladies -- the most public one for me is a special portrait of barbara bush. --ually a favorite of mine the whole process was great. she was wonderful. very enjoyable. the end result i really liked. they put her kind of in shadows in the corner. all the details -- it was not grand, but it was very nice. i love it. in two dimensions without one. in three dimensions, i actually sculpted nancy reagan for the reagan library in california. long have you been working with c-span on history rogue rams and give me a little bit about that relationship? >> >> i'm a history buff. getting involved with these projects was not hard. the alexis de tocqueville project. , it wasually started supposed to be a painting and evolved into a sculpture, a small bust. c-span did not really know. so, i smile now. they pushed me toward sculpture without me really knowing it. that