GOP senators press Obama official on FHA losses

(AP) Republican senators are pressing the U.S. government's housing official to take steps to shore up the federal agency that insures mortgages for millions of borrowers. An audit shows the agency faces $16.3 billion in losses and might require a taxpayer bailout.

Shaun Donovan, secretary of housing and urban development, said at a hearing of the Senate Banking Committee that the agency, the Federal Housing Administration, has already taken action to strengthen its finances.

Republican senators said more must be done, such as ending the FHA's backing of reverse mortgages. They said the FHA has sustained big losses from defaults on those loans, which allow homeowners age 62 or older to borrow against their home's equity.