The nominee to run the Federal Housing Administration opposes extending higher limits on federally-insured loans.
At her nomination hearing last week, Carol Galante, now the acting FHA commissioner, said she agrees with other administration officials that letting the higher limits expire is better for the recovery of the private mortgage market.
"It is appropriate to take a step back," she told members of the Senate Banking Committee.
Late last week, after Galante testified, President Obama signed a mini-bus appropriation bill increasing the FHA loan limit in high cost areas to $729,750, but leaving the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac limit unchanged at $625,500.
Many congressional Democrats and a smaller group of Republicans pushed for another extension of the GSE limit.
