The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs voted along party lines 13-11 to advance President Trump’s nomination of Scott Turner to become the next Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), despite efforts by Ranking Member Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to stop his advancement because an FBI background check on Turner was not submitted ahead of the vote.
“Everyone must remember that if confirmed, Mr. Turner will serve as a member of President Trump’s cabinet and be in the line of presidential succession,” Warren wrote in a letter to the committee’s chairman, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC). “There is no reason to anticipate a problem, but it would be irresponsible for this committee to vote on a cabinet nominee without his background check, and it would not be consistent with committee precedent. The Committee’s customary practice, followed by both Republican and Democratic chairs, is to hold a vote on a nomination only after completion of the FBI background investigation and receipt of a briefing on it.”
Warren added that she would be supportive of Turner “as soon as the FBI gets its act together and gets over here and tells us” the contents of the background check. But without that information, she claimed that “we simply do not have the information that is needed to go forward on this nominee.”
For his part, Scott praised Turner and predicted he would reverse Biden administration policies that elevated HUD’s spending without solving problems related to housing.
“Scott Turner won’t just focus on fixing what’s broken,” said Scott. “I know he will work hard to find innovative solutions and I look forward to working with him on my ROAD to Housing legislation and Opportunity Zones.”
Mortgage Bankers Association President and CEO Bob Broeksmit voiced his organization’s support of Turner.
“MBA appreciates the importance being placed on Scott Turner’s nomination to serve as the next HUD Secretary and urges Senate leadership to schedule a floor vote on his confirmation as soon as possible,” he said. “Turner’s confirmation is an important step toward building his key staff and installing leadership at the Federal Housing Administration and Ginnie Mae. HUD will play a critical role in helping to solve our nation’s ongoing supply and affordability challenges for owners and renters, and we are pleased that the Trump administration appears ready to tackle this issue.”
Photo by Gage Skidmore / Flickr Creative Commons
