Carson, Perry confirmed to lead HUD, Energy
WASHINGTON — Two of President Donald Trump’s former rivals for the GOP White House nomination won Senate confirmation Thursday to join his administration.
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson was confirmed as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development on a vote of 58-41. A few hours later, the Senate backed former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to be energy secretary, 62- 37.
Carson and Perry are the 17th and 18th of Trump’s 22 Cabinet and Cabinet- level nominations to win Senate approval.
Ohio Sens. Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman both voted to confirm Carson. Portman, a Republican, also backed Perry’s confirmation, but Democrat Brown voted “no.”
Carson, 65, has never held public office and has no housing- policy experience, but Republicans have praised the life story of a man who grew up in innercity Detroit with a single mother who had a thirdgrade education.
Carson, will lead an agency with 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.
At his confirmation hearing, Carson told lawmakers that he envisioned forging a more “holistic approach” to helping people and developing “the whole person.” He didn’t offer many details.
“We don’t want it to be way of life. ... We want it to be a Band-Aid and a springboard to move forward,” Carson said of HUD.
Perry, 66, who once pledged to eliminate the Energy Department, has now promised to be an advocate for the agency and to protect the nation’s nuclear stockpile. Perry also pledged to rely on federal scientists, including those who work on climate change.
Perry served 14 years as Texas governor. He said he will seek to develop American energy in all forms, from oil, gas and nuclear power to renewable sources such as wind and solar power.
During Perry’s tenure as governor, Texas maintained its traditional role as a top driller for oil and natural gas, while also emerging as the leading producer of wind power in the United States and a top provider of solar power.
Democrats and environmental groups have derided Perry’s nomination, calling him a steep drop-off from the two physicists who preceded him as energy chief, Steven Chu and Ernest Moniz.
Meanwhile, Trump’s nominee to run Medicare and Medicaid won committee approval Thursday, clearing her for a final floor vote in the Senate. The final vote has not yet been scheduled.
Indiana health care consultant Seema Verma was approved by the Finance Committee on a 13-12 party-line vote.
Verma, a protege of Vice President Mike Pence, would head the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, an agency that’s responsible for administering the Obama-era health care law that Trump has vowed to repeal and replace.