The Senate on Thursday voted 56-43 to confirm Bill Pulte as the nation’s top housing regulator, putting him at the center of a fight over the future of two government-controlled companies that prop up half the residential mortgage market.

As the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Pulte will have oversight of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which have been in government conservatorship for more than 16 years.

The Trump administration is widely expected to seek to release Fannie and Freddie from government control — a complicated process that will rekindle debate about the role of the federal government in housing at a time when affordability has emerged as a major political concern.

Pulte gave few clues during his confirmation hearing with the Senate Banking Committee about what would happen with the companies, which buy mortgages and package them into securities for sale to investors.

“While [Fannie and Freddie’s] conservatorships should not be indefinite, any exit from conservatorship must be carefully planned to ensure the safety and soundness of the housing market without upward pressure on mortgage rates,” he told the panel.

Pulte expanded slightly on that position in a written response to questions for the record from Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the committee.

“My priority in overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is ensuring a stable and thriving housing and mortgage market, and to this end, any decisions related to if or when Fannie or Freddie are released from conservatorship would involve the President and the Secretary of the Treasury,” he wrote.

Pulte declined to answer Warren’s question about whether he has consulted with outside advisers including Bill Ackman, the billionaire hedge fund founder who has held sizable positions in both companies for years in the hopes that they would eventually be privatized.

LEESBURG, Va. — Rep. Sarah McBride said she lived to “rent-free in the minds of some of my Republican colleagues” amid a controversy about GOP lawmakers referring to her by the wrong gender.

Speaking Thursday at a news conference with House Minority Whip Katherine Clark and first-term Democratic women lawmakers, McBride said Republicans were “obsessed with culture war issues” and said it was “weird” and “bizarre.”

“We will not take a lecture on decorum from a party that incited an insurrection,” the first openly transgender member of Congress said, making reference to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas) referred to her as “Mr. McBride” during a congressional hearing earlier this week, sparking a confrontation between Self and Rep. Bill Keating (D-Mass.) over the issue. Other GOP lawmakers have targeted McBride’s identity, with Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) addressing her as “the gentleman from Delaware” while presiding on the House floor at one point.

House Republicans have sought to turn transgender rights into a wedge issue against Democrats this Congress. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) led an effort to ban transgender women from using women’s bathrooms on Capitol Hill. She responded to McBride’s comments Thursday with an X post addressing her as “Sir.”

McBride has generally shied away from weighing in on the attacks on her identity. Thursday’s remarks were her first public comments on the incident beyond a Tuesday post on X where she wrote: “No matter how I’m treated by some colleagues, nothing diminishes my awe and gratitude at getting to represent Delaware in Congress.”

In wake of the January crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport that killed 67 people, leaders of a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee are launching a bipartisan investigation into the military use of Washington-area air space.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Reps. William Timmons (R-S.C.) and Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) — the chair and ranking member of the subcommittee on military and foreign affairs, respectively — requested a member-level briefing no later than April 1 on the potential operational failures that led to the Jan. 29 collision between a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and a commercial passenger airplane.

They are specifically asking for information about the potential risks of the heavy air traffic in the U.S. Capitol region, the “procedural or regulatory issues” that may have contributed to the January incident and any changes by the Defense Department to prevent such an incident from reoccurring.

The airport is a frequent and favorite hub for lawmakers traveling to and from their respective states.