Tommy Tuberville welcomes Nikki Haley to 2024 presidential race
On Monday, former South Carolina Governor and UN ambassador Nikki Haley announced her candidacy for the Republican nomination for President of the United States. U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville, who has already announced his endorsement of former President Donald Trump, welcomed Haley’s entrance into the 2024 presidential race. Tuberville told reporters that she would be a “great candidate.” Tuberville favors a large GOP primary field and said that he has recently spoken with Trump and told the former President that he hopes “they all get in.” “He needs the challenge as well as anybody,” Tuberville said. “They need to work for it. They need to fight for it.” In the 2020 election, President Trump endorsed Tuberville in his Republican primary battle for U.S. Senate with former Trump Attorney General Sen. Jeff Sessions. Tuberville had spent forty years as a teacher and coach – including stints as head football coach at Ole Miss, Auburn, Texas Tech, and Cincinnati – prior to that 2020 first run for public office. At this point, the only announced GOP candidates for the Republican nomination for 2024 are Haley and Trump, but that is expected to change quickly. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are widely believed to be seriously looking at entering the race. According to the Hill, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin are also possible presidential candidates. GOP Senators who oppose a third Trump presidential run fear that a crowded GOP primary field makes it easier for Trump to emerge as the eventual GOP nominee. “Look, we were all concerned with the fact that we had 15 or 16 or 17 individuals vying for attention in the last one,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (South Dakota) told the Hill referring to the 2016 election. “We really don’t want to see that happen again. We just don’t.” U.S. Sen. Katie Britt was endorsed by Trump in her 2022 GOP primary battle with then-Congressman Mo Brooks and war veteran and defense contractor Mike Durant. Britt, however, cannot make an endorsement in the Presidential primary because she is serving on the national Republican steering committee. Trump faced a crowded field in 2016 that included U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Rick Santorum, and Lindsey Graham, as well as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former Ohio Governor John Kasich, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, businesswoman Carly Fiorina, former Virginia Gov. Mike Gilmore, former New York Gov. George Pataki, then Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, and Dr. Ben Carson. Trump won the 2016 Alabama Republican Primary despite the crowded field. Trump went on to win the Republican nomination and then beat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the general election. Trump was unseated by former Vice President Joe Biden in 2020. Biden appears to be virtually unopposed at this point for the 2024 Democratic nomination for President. The 2024 Alabama Republican Primary is only 55 weeks away on March 5. DeSantis will speak to the Alabama Republican Party in Birmingham on March 9. To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Personnel update: Rob Couch back at Bradley after a year of service at HUD
After a year serving as the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Federal Financial Monitor for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Rob Couch has rejoined Bradley’s Banking and Financial Services Practice Group. Couch was selected for the position by HUD Secretary Ben Carson in response to reports of financial mismanagement and corruption in Puerto Rico. As a career member of HUD’s Senior Executive Service, Couch oversaw HUD’s Community Development Block Grants (CDBG)-Disaster Recovery efforts in Puerto Rico, which involves aid intended to help the island nation’s recovery from Hurricanes Maria and Irma in 2017 and to help it prepare for future natural disasters. Prior to this most recent year-long service with HUD, Couch also served as general council of HUD from 2006 to 2008 before joining Bradley’s Banking and Financial Services Practice Group in July 2009. He also served as President of Ginnie Mae and as Chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association. He has also served as a commissioner on the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Housing Commission, was a member of President George W. Bush’s Task Force on the Status of Puerto Rico, President and CEO of New South Federal Savings Bank in Birmingham, and General Counsel and CFO of First Commercial Bancshares. “We are pleased to welcome Rob back to Bradley,” said Bradley Chairman of the Board and Managing Partner Jonathan M. Skeeters. “His wealth of knowledge and the breadth of his experience across the financial services industry, particularly with regard to its interplay with federal and state regulatory bodies, as well as government-sponsored enterprises, is exceptional. Rob’s return further deepens the resources available to our clients through our national Banking and Financial Services team.” “I am excited to be returning to Bradley,” stated Couch. “The firm is a leader in the financial services industry, and I look forward to helping our financial institution clients as they navigate the legal and business challenges facing the industry as we witness the changes in Washington and the continuing impact of the pandemic.” Couch will focus on mortgage lenders and investors in both the forward mortgage and reverse mortgage industries, affordable housing, and regulatory matters involving HUD, Ginnie Mae, FHA, and other government-sponsored enterprise matters. He will also assist clients with a broad array of legal and strategic issues across the housing industry. In addition to his work with HUD and Bradley, Couch has also written a book, “Now What?: So You Think You Want to Retire”. Amazon describes the book, which takes a lighthearted approach to planning your retirement, saying, “Rob Couch uses the analogy of one of life’s final road trips to explore his goals for what (he hopes) is the last third of his life–and how to best increase the odds of reaching them. Couch eschews the usual topic of financial independence and instead focuses on well-being, mental fitness, resilience, spirituality, and laughter as the keys to a well-spent retirement. After confessing a lack of professional training in any of these topics, he reviews current academic research from a layman’s perspective, ultimately developing his own matrix for assessing the endless possibilities for an engaged retirement. Part II of his book describes the application of the matrix to five disparate activities, ranging from Sacred Harp singing to stand-up comedy. Along the way, he has a good deal of fun and learns some surprising lessons about his own personality. Whether you are approaching retirement age, have already pulled the trigger, or know a loved one who is facing this stage of life, “Now What?” is an enjoyable and lighthearted way to examine the topic.”
Joe Biden eyes defeated candidates for key administration roles
In politics, there can sometimes be an upside to losing. President-elect Joe Biden is eyeing several Democrats who lost congressional reelection races last month for key positions in his administration. They include outgoing Reps. Abby Finkenauer of Iowa, Donna Shalala of Florida, and Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama. Their consideration continues a long Washington tradition of defeated politicians seeking shelter in a new White House. Landing a job in a new administration can both position the losing candidates for future campaigns and provide the incoming president with important relationships on Capitol Hill. “It’s good to have people who know how to roam the halls of Congress,” said Andrew Card, who directed George W. Bush’s transition and later served as the Republican president’s chief of staff. Biden’s transition team declined to comment on the prospects of any individual contender for an administration role. He has already unveiled much of his economic and national security team and is expected to announce picks soon for key health positions. But there are still a large number of major Cabinet positions to be filled, including attorney general and leaders of the departments of Labor, Commerce, and Transportation. As Biden considers his options, his personal connection with some of the defeated lawmakers could carry significance. Finkenauer, who is under consideration as Labor secretary, owes her start in politics in part to Biden. As a college student, she worked on his ill-fated 2008 presidential campaign. A decade later, he headlined a rally for her winning congressional campaign. She was a key surrogate for Biden ahead of the Iowa caucuses. “I know they have a long relationship, and it’s been mutually supportive,” said former Assistant Dubuque City Manager Teri Goodman, who is a decades-long Biden supporter and has watched Finkenauer’s rise. Finkenauer narrowly lost her bid for a second term in a rural northeast Iowa district. But since then, the former state legislator, who made a name promoting public employee unions, has had conversations with senior Biden transition officials about leading the Labor Department, according to Democratic sources familiar with the communications. Jones, meanwhile, is in the mix to lead the Justice Department, partly due to his work as a U.S. attorney who helped convict Ku Klux Klansmen for the Birmingham church bombing that killed four Black girls. He narrowly won a special Alabama Senate election in 2017 but lost reelection last month. He also has a longstanding personal relationship with Biden, dating to Biden’s first presidential campaign in 1988. Biden spoke at Jones’ campaign kickoff in 2017, saying of Jones, “He knows your heart and will never let you down,” and was the first to telephone him on Nov. 3 after he’d lost the seat to Republican Tommy Tuberville. Shalala is perhaps the most administration-ready of 2020′s losing Democratic class. She spent eight years as secretary of health and human services under Bill Clinton and then served as president of the University of Miami before winning a south Florida House seat in 2018. She has heard from Biden transition officials. Beyond the outgoing members of Congress, Biden is also considering his former rivals in the Democratic primary for jobs. He already tapped California Sen. Kamala Harris as his vice president. Biden is weighing roles for Pete Buttigieg, the former South Bend, Indiana mayor who mounted a surprisingly strong campaign in the early stretch of the Democratic primaries. Biden has expressed deep affection for Buttigieg, who was one of the first major candidates to drop out of the race and endorse Biden. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, who lost his Senate bid after leaving the White House race, is part of discussions for a Biden administration role, perhaps as secretary of agriculture. Another name under consideration for agriculture is former North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, who lost in 2018 but has been a champion of reinvigorating rural America. “If they think I can be helpful, then good,” Heitkamp told The Associated Press recently. Presidents have often sought losing rivals for positions. Republican Donald Trump chose fellow 2016 GOP presidential candidates Rick Perry as energy secretary and Ben Carson for housing and urban development. Democrat Barack Obama notably chose former rival Hillary Clinton to be secretary of state after the 2008 election. Missouri Sen. John Ashcroft’s defeat in 2000 paved the way for his four years as attorney general under George W. Bush, including during the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, who lost the election to a third term in 2004, was tapped after the 2008 election by Obama to head health and human services, which would have put him at the forefront of the health care debate. Daschle withdrew from consideration after questions arose about his failure to properly report and pay income taxes. The most successful losing congressional candidate of the past 50 years is George H. W. Bush, who as a two-term Republican U.S. House member from Texas lost his 1970 bid for Senate against Democrat Lloyd Bentsen. As a consolation, President Richard Nixon picked Bush to be ambassador to the United Nations, a disappointment for the up-and-comer who was hoping for a treasury job. But the post led to an ambassadorship to China, and the experiences were valuable when as president he found himself leading a global coalition in Operation Desert Storm. “The significance is that was the beginning of his self schooling and expertise in foreign affairs,” said Chase Untermeyer, director of White House personnel during George H. W. Bush’s administration. In a White House led by a Capitol Hill veteran like Biden, a team with a background in Congress is particularly valuable to those around the president, since Biden remains well acquainted with the rules and many members. But considering Biden hasn’t been a senator in nearly a dozen years, Card said those with more recent experience in Congress will be helpful. “More than helping the president, these people can help the White House staff dealing with members of Congress,” said Card. “They know where
Donald Trump eviction ban may only delay wave of homelessness
Housing advocates say the Trump administration’s surprise national moratorium on evictions only delays a wave of crushing debt and homelessness.
Donald Trump fumes over NYT op-ed; top officials swiftly deny role
Pushing back against explosive reports his own administration is conspiring against him, President Donald Trump lashed out against the anonymous senior official who wrote a New York Times opinion piece claiming to be part of a “resistance” working “from within” to thwart his most dangerous impulses. Perhaps as striking as the essay was the recognition of the long list of administration officials who plausibly could have been its author. Many have privately shared some of the same concerns expressed about the president with colleagues, friends and reporters. Washington was consumed by a wild guessing game as to the identity of the writer, and swift denials of involvement in the op-ed came Thursday from top administration officials, including from Vice President Mike Pence’s office, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Dan Coats, director of national intelligence, and other Cabinet members. Trump was furious, tweeting Thursday morning that “The Deep State and the Left, and their vehicle, the Fake News Media, are going Crazy – & they don’t know what to do.” The Deep State and the Left, and their vehicle, the Fake News Media, are going Crazy – & they don’t know what to do. The Economy is booming like never before, Jobs are at Historic Highs, soon TWO Supreme Court Justices & maybe Declassification to find Additional Corruption. Wow! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2018 On Wednesday night, Trump tweeted a demand that if “the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called on the “coward” who wrote the piece to “do the right thing and resign.” White House officials did not immediately respond to a request to elaborate on Trump’s call for the writer to be turned over to the government or the unsupported national security ground of his demand. To some observers, the ultimatum appeared to play into the very concerns about the president’s impulses raised by the essay’s author. Trump has demanded that aides identify the leaker, according to two people familiar with the matter, though it was unclear how they might go about doing so. The two were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. In a “House of Cards”-style plot twist in an already over-the-top administration, Trump allies and political insiders scrambled to unmask the writer. But the op-ed also brought to light questions that have been whispered in Washington for more than a year: Is Trump truly in charge? And could a divided executive branch pose a danger to the country? Former CIA Director John Brennan, a fierce Trump critic, called the op-ed “active insubordination … born out of loyalty to the country.” “This is not sustainable to have an executive branch where individuals are not following the orders of the chief executive,” Brennan told NBC’s “Today” show. “I do think things will get worse before they get better. I don’t know how Donald Trump is going to react to this. A wounded lion is a very dangerous animal, and I think Donald Trump is wounded.” The anonymous author, claiming to be part of the “resistance” to Trump “working diligently from within” his administration, said, “Many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses until he is out of office.” “It may be cold comfort in this chaotic era, but Americans should know that there are adults in the room,” the author continued. “We fully recognize what is happening. And we are trying to do what’s right even when Donald Trump won’t.” Trump raged about the piece in the White House, calling around to confidants to vent about the disloyalty of the author and fuming that the so-called Deep State within the federal government had conspired against him, according to a person familiar with the president’s views but not authorized to discuss them publicly. The text of the op-ed was pulled apart for clues: The writer is identified as an “administration official”; does that mean a person who works outside the White House? The references to Russia and the late Sen. John McCain — do they suggest someone working in national security? Does the writing style sound like someone who worked at a think tank? In a tweet, the Times used the pronoun “he” to refer to the writer; does that rule out all women? The newspaper later said the tweet referring to “he” had been “drafted by someone who is not aware of the author’s identity, including the gender, so the use of ‘he’ was an error.” The Beltway guessing game seeped into the White House, as current and former staffers alike traded calls and texts trying to figure out who could have written the piece, some turning to reporters and asking them for clues. For many in Trump’s orbit, it was stunning to realize just how many people could have been the op-ed’s author. And some of the most senior members of the Trump administration were forced to deny they were the author of the attack on their boss. Hotly debated on Twitter was the author’s use of the word “lodestar,” which pops up frequently in speeches by Pence. Could the anonymous figure be someone in Pence’s orbit? Others argued that the word “lodestar” could have been included to throw people off. In a rare step, Pence’s communications director Jarrod Agen tweeted early Thursday that “The Vice President puts his name on his Op-Eds. The @nytimes should be ashamed and so should the person who wrote the false, illogical, and gutless op-ed. Our office is above such amateur acts.” Pompeo, who was in India, denied writing the anonymous opinion piece, saying, “It’s not mine.” He accused the media of trying to undermine the Trump administration and said he found that “incredibly disturbing.” Coats later issued his own denial, followed by Housing Secretary Ben Carson, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, budget director Mick
Some low-income housing residents could experience rent increases
Low-income Alabama residents receiving federal housing assistance might experience increased rent by more than $800 a year. Al.com reports the possible rate increase could impact more than 180,000 people and about 83,000 households according to the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The center says the average HUD rent would go up 20 percent. HUD Secretary Ben Carson introduced the rent increases in April as part of the “Making Affordable Housing Work Act.” The act would require households that receive federal housing assistance to pay 35 percent of their gross income in rent, up from the current 30 percent. The average annual gross rent per affected household in Alabama is $3,270 and would balloon to $4,090 based off the possible rent increase. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
Cabinet chaos: Trump’s team battles scandal, irrelevance
One Cabinet member was grilled by Congress about alleged misuse of taxpayer funds for private flights. Another faced an extraordinary revolt within his own department amid a swirling ethics scandal. A third has come under scrutiny for her failure to answer basic questions about her job in a nationally televised interview. And none of them was the one Trump fired. President Donald Trump’s Cabinet in recent weeks has been enveloped in a cloud of controversy, undermining the administration’s ability to advance its agenda and drawing the ire of a president increasingly willing to cast aside allies and go it alone. Trump’s ouster of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday may have just been the first salvo in a shakeup of a Cabinet that, with few exceptions, has been a team of rivals for bad headlines and largely sidelined by the White House. “Donald Trump is a lone-wolf president who doesn’t want to co-govern with anybody and doesn’t want anyone else getting the credit,” said presidential historian Douglas Brinkley of Rice University. “For his Cabinet, he brought in a bizarre strand of outsiders and right-wing ideologues. Many are famed conservative or wealthy business people, but that doesn’t mean you understand good governance.” The string of embarrassing headlines for Trump’s advisers, as well as the president’s growing distance from them, stands in sharp contrast to how he portrayed the group last year. “There are those that are saying it’s one of the finest group of people ever assembled as a Cabinet,” Trump said then. On Tuesday, the president hinted after firing Tillerson that more changes may be forthcoming, saying an ideal Cabinet is in the making. “I’ve gotten to know a lot of people very well over the last year,” Trump told reporters at the White House, “and I’m really at a point where we’re getting very close to having the Cabinet and other things that I want.” Even as Trump routinely convened Cabinet meetings in front of the cameras for “Dear Leader”-type tributes over the past year, his relationship with many of its members began to splinter. Last summer he began publicly bashing Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a former close adviser who was the first senator to back his campaign. Furious that the attorney general recused himself from the Russia probe that has loomed over the White House, Trump has privately mused about firing Sessions and taken to delivering unprecedented Twitter broadsides against him. Trump has used the words “beleaguered” and “disgraceful” to describe Sessions, who only recently stood up to the president and defended his recusal decision. Tillerson also frequently clashed with Trump, who never forgave the outgoing secretary of state for reportedly calling him “a moron” last summer after grumbling that the president had no grasp of foreign affairs. The pair never developed a particularly warm relationship. Last November, during a full day of meetings in Beijing, Trump and his senior staff were served plates of wilted Caesar salad as they gathered in a private room in the Great Hall of the People. None of the Americans moved to eat the unappetizing dish, but Trump prodded Tillerson to give it a try, according to a senior administration official. “Rex,” the president said, “eat the salad.” Tillerson declined, despite Trump’s urging. After repeatedly undermining and contradicting Tillerson, Trump at last fired his secretary of state in a tweet. Trump in recent days has told confidants that he feels emboldened. He’s proud of his unilateral decisions to impose sweeping tariffs on metal imports and to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, and far less willing to put up with disloyalty around him, according to a person who has spoken to the president in recent days but was not authorized to discuss private conversations publicly. Trump’s esteem for the Cabinet has faded in recent months, according to two White House officials and two outside advisers. He also told confidants that he was in the midst of making changes to improve personnel and, according to one person who spoke with him, “get rid of the dead weight” — which could put a number of embattled Cabinet secretaries on notice. The officials all spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke underwent questioning Tuesday by Senate Democrats, who accused him of spending tens of thousands of dollars on office renovations and private flights while proposing deep cuts to conservation programs. Zinke pushed back, saying he “never took a private jet anywhere” — because all three flights he had taken on private planes as secretary were on aircraft with propellers, not jet engines. Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin’s days on the job may be limited after a bruising internal report found ethics violations in connection with his trip to Europe with his wife last summer, according to senior administration officials. He also has faced a potential mutiny from his own staff: A political adviser installed by Trump at the Department of Veterans Affairs has openly mused to other VA staff about ousting the former Obama administration official. Trump has floated the notion of moving Energy Secretary Rick Perry to the VA to right the ship, believing Shulkin has become a distraction, according to two people familiar with White House discussions. They were not authorized to discuss internal deliberations and spoke on condition of anonymity. Others under the microscope: —White House aides deemed Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ recent appearance on “60 Minutes” a disaster as she struggled to defend the administration’s school safety plan and could not answer basic questions about the nation’s education system. —Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson came under fire last month after reports his agency was spending $31,000 for a new dining set, a purchase HUD officials said was made without Carson’s knowledge. —Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has faced questions about $25,000 spent on a soundproof “privacy booth” inside his office to prevent eavesdropping on his phone calls and another $9,000 on biometric locks. —The first Cabinet member to
Ben Carson breaks with Donald Trump, throws support behind Roy Moore
Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Dr. Ben Carson made an eleventh hour, climatic break from President Donald Trump on Friday when he praised Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore in the state’s contentious runoff, rather than backing the other candidate along with the president. Carson announced his support for the former Alabama Chief Justice over the temporary Sen. Luther Strange in a statement. “Judge Moore is a fine man of proven character and integrity, who I have come to respect over the years,” Carson said in the statement released by the Moore campaign. “I was delighted to hear he is running for the U.S. Senate. He is truly someone who reflects the Judeo-Christian values that were so important to the establishment of our country.” Moore faces Strange on Tuesday, Sept. 26 in the GOP run-off where voters will decide who advances to the Dec. 12 general election to face Democrat Doug Jones.
Ben Carson talks responsibility as senators question cuts
Housing Secretary Ben Carson defended the sharp budget cuts facing his agency even as he promised senators Wednesday that he would strive to help the most vulnerable Americans. Appearing before Congress or the first time since joining President Donald Trump‘s Cabinet, Carson said his agency was committed to “doing more with less.” Trump’s 2018 budget proposal calls for cutting $7 billion from the $48 billion budget for the Housing and Urban Development Department. That includes gutting the popular $3 billion Community Development Block Grant program, which funds a variety of local projects across the country. The program has done wonderful things, Carson said, “but there has been mission creep to the point where we have those dollars being used for spay and neuter clinics and flowers along highways.” He said at a time of tight budgets, “we have to be able to concentrate on what our primary goals are.” But senators from both parties questioned the cuts. Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware noted that HUD’s own website touts that the CDBG program has created thousands of jobs, supported tens of thousands of single-family home rehabilitation projects and helped over 200,000 seniors. “I could spend the rest of the afternoon giving you concrete and specific examples of how CDBG been used in my home county, home state and across this country,” Coons said. The chair of the panel, GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, suggested Congress may not agree to the cuts. She told Carson the budget proposal is “just a first draft,” with lawmakers ultimately having the final say on spending plans. The administration’s plan also would cut about $2 billion from the department’s rental assistance programs, to $35.2 billion. One proposal would increase the tenant contribution toward rent from 30 percent of adjusted income to up to 35 percent of gross income, a higher category of income. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Housing chief Ben Carson steps up public profile in coming weeks
President Donald Trump‘s point man on housing, Ben Carson, takes on a higher profile this month in Washington – an opportunity to spell out his vision on federal housing policy, and to try to avoid some of the verbal gaffes that have stirred criticism in his first months on the job. On Thursday, Carson will headline a homeownership conference at his agency, the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Next week, he heads to Capitol Hill to testify before House and Senate panels about deep cuts planned for HUD in Trump’s proposed budget. It’s a shift in visibility for the renowned neurosurgeon and former Republican presidential candidate as he nears 100 days in Trump’s Cabinet. Since taking the helm of HUD in March, Carson, 65, has visited a handful of cities as part of a national “listening tour” to talk to HUD employees, housing officials and public housing residents. He’s also had appearances at some housing conferences – most of it with little or no advance notice to the media. So far, he has not shared publicly his policy agenda for the department. HUD spokesman Raffi Williams says Carson is no longer a candidate running for political office and has been busy leading a $40 billion federal agency that has more than 8,000 employees. “He’s focused on governing and crafting policies that advance HUD’s mission of creating strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all Americans,” said Williams. When Carson has discussed his views on government and housing policy, he’s sparked some criticism. In his first full week on the job, Carson seemed to describe slaves as immigrants, saying – “there were other immigrants who came here on the bottom of slave ships, worked even longer, even harder for less.” Last week, on the radio show of close friend and conservative commentator Armstrong Williams, Carson said poverty is largely a “state of mind.” “You take somebody who has the right mindset, you can take everything from them and put them on the street and I guarantee you, in a little while, they’ll be right back up there,” Carson told Armstrong on his SiriusXM show. “And you take somebody with the wrong mindset, you can give them everything in the world and they’ll work their way back down to the bottom.” The comments from Carson, who grew up poor in inner-city Detroit, stoked outrage on social media – coming from the head of an agency that provides millions of lower-income people with rental subsidies and other housing assistance. But Rolf Pendall, co-director of a housing program at the Urban Institute think tank, isn’t worried that Carson has “been given the mission of destroying the agency.” While not defending Carson’s comments, Pendall said the housing chief’s testimony during his January confirmation hearing shows “he clearly does think that HUD is part of the solution to urban problems, to rural problems, to housing problems in the United States, and that many of its programs have been effective in the past.” Carson’s vision could become clearer when he testifies about the administration’s proposed $6 billion cut in the agency’s $47 billion budget. Slated for elimination in the Trump budget are several housing support and community development programs, such as the $3 billion Community Development Block Grant program. The plan also would cut about $2 billion from the department’s rental assistance programs, to $35.2 billion. Rental assistance programs comprise about 80 percent of the agency’s total funding. New requirements to encourage work and self-sufficiency are part of the plan. One proposal would increase the tenant contribution toward rent from 30 percent of adjusted income to up to 35 percent of gross income. The cuts would be devastating, Pendall said: “People will lose housing vouchers. They will become homeless, and some of them will die.” Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, says she wants to see Carson focus on programs with proven results – such as the Housing Trust Fund, which the Trump budget would eliminate, or Section 8 housing vouchers. “Each of these programs not only end homelessness and housing insecurity, but they are proven to increase the educational attainment of the kids living in those affordable homes and to increase the lifetime earnings of the kids living in those homes,” Yentel said. Yentel called Trump’s budget proposal “extreme overreach” and said she worries it moves the goal posts so far that “it creates an environment where cuts only half as deep seem like a reasonable compromise.” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
HUD could face steep cuts, but Ben Carson says numbers early
Housing Secretary Ben Carson sought Thursday to reassure his agency that budget cuts may not be as steep as some fear, even as housing advocates and others brace for deep reductions to public housing and anti-poverty programs. The cuts said to be under consideration, more than $6 billion, would target community development block grants and some public housing money. The idea would be to help offset some of the $54 billion increase in defense spending that President Donald Trump is seeking. In an email Thursday to Department of Housing and Urban Development employees, the newly confirmed Carson cautioned that the budget numbers were preliminary and that “starting numbers are rarely final numbers.” “Rest assured, we are working hard to support those programs that help so many Americans, focus on our core mission, and ensure that every tax dollar is spent wisely and effectively,” wrote Carson, who was confirmed as HUD secretary late last week. The Washington Post reported late Wednesday that early numbers for fiscal year 2018 showed HUD’s overall budget being slashed about 14 percent, to $40.5 billion — including cuts of about $2 billion from public housing funds and the elimination of the Community Development Block Grant Program, which funds local improvement efforts and other programs. At his confirmation hearing in January, Carson took a softer approach toward the role of the federal government than he sometimes did on the presidential campaign trail, where he challenged Trump for the GOP nomination. When reminded that he had called for across-the-board agency spending cuts of 10 percent during the campaign, Carson told the Senate banking committee that he later modified that amount to 1 percent. He also said HUD’s rental assistance programs are “essential” to millions of Americans and said the agency had many good programs. He added, though: “We don’t want it to be way of life. … We want it to be a Band-Aid and a springboard to move forward.” New York City Council Member Ritchie Torres said public housing in his city is so financially and physically fragile that it cannot safely absorb the shock of a 14 percent reduction in HUD’s budget. “The budget cuts will lead to more public health hazards in public housing,” Torres, chair of the council’s committee on public housing, said in an interview Thursday. “It will lead to more leaking and molded conditions in public housing. It will lead to more neglect of the physical infrastructure.” In Newton, Massachusetts, Mayor Setti Warren said killing the community development block grants would be devastating to his community. “This critical program provides people with higher paying jobs, affordable housing and opportunities for children to reach their full potential,” said Warren. The block grant money has been used in Newton for infrastructure improvements to housing for seniors, open space projects in poorer neighborhoods and money for social service programs for children such as Boys & Girls Clubs. National Urban League President Marc Morial said cuts like those that are being discussed would undercut the agency’s mission. “It’s a cruel and unusual hit to say that we’re going to cut the most vulnerable citizens in America and we’re going to go spend the money on the implements of war,” Morial said. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Ex-Donald Trump rival Ben Carson wins Senate OK as housing chief
Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon who challenged Donald Trump for the GOP presidential nomination, won Senate confirmation Thursday to join Trump’s Cabinet as housing secretary. Six Democrats and one independent joined 51 Republicans in voting for Carson to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Carson is the 17th of 22 of Trump’s Cabinet and Cabinet-level nominations to win Senate approval. The Senate also voted 62-37 to move ahead on the nomination of former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to be energy secretary. Carson has never held public office and has no housing policy experience. Republicans have praised the life story of a man who grew up in inner-city Detroit with a single mother who had a third-grade education. When his nomination cleared the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee in January, Democrats said Carson would not have been their choice, but they welcomed his promises to enforce fair housing and to address lead hazards in housing and other issues. He was approved unanimously in the committee. Sarah Edelman, director of housing policy at the Center for American Progress, said her group would work to hold Carson accountable for the promises he made. Carson, she said, has “made disparaging statements about families experiencing poverty, LGBT people, and fair housing that raise questions about his ability to be a fair and effective leader.” Carson, 65, will lead an agency with some 8,300 employees and a budget of about $47 billion. The department provides billions of dollars in housing assistance to low-income people through vouchers and public housing. It also enforces fair housing laws and offers mortgage insurance to poorer Americans through the Federal Housing Administration, part of HUD. Trump lauded his nominee last week, calling him a “totally brilliant neurosurgeon” who has saved many lives. “We’re going to do great things in our African-American communities,” Trump said, appearing with Carson on a tour of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington. “Ben is going to work with me very, very closely. And HUD has a meaning far beyond housing. If properly done, it’s a meaning that’s as big as anything there is, and Ben will be able to find that true meaning and the true meaning of HUD as its Secretary,” Trump said. Carson has not shared specific plans publicly for the department under his leadership. At his confirmation hearing, he told lawmakers that he envisioned forging a more “holistic approach” to helping people and developing “the whole person.” He didn’t offer many details. Under questioning from Democrats, Carson said HUD’s rental assistance is “essential” to millions of Americans and that the department has a lot of good programs. But he added, “We don’t want it to be way of life. … We want it to be a Band-Aid and a springboard to move forward.” He also said he’d like to see more partnerships with the private sector and religious groups. The soft-spoken Carson, the only black major-party candidate in the White House race, grew up poor. He went on to attend Yale University and the University of Michigan Medical School before becoming the first African-American named as the head of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore. In 1987, Carson became famous for pioneering surgery to separate twins joined at the back of the head. In 2013, he entered the national political spotlight during the National Prayer Breakfast when he railed against the modern welfare state, with President Barack Obama sitting just feet away. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
